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THE 


MORMON   COUNTRY 


A  SUMMER 


WITH   THE 


"LATTER-DAY  SAINTS/ 


BY 

JOHN    CODMAN. 


NEW  YORK: 

UNITED   STATES   PUBLISHING  COMPANY, 

13  UNIVERSITY  PLACE. 

1874. 


F\ 


Entered,  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1874,  by  the 

UNITED   STATES  PUBLISHING  COMPANY, 
in  the  Office  of  the  Librarian  of  Congress,  at  Washington 


JOHN  F.  TROW  &  SON, 

PRINTERS  AND  BOOKBINDERS, 

205-213  East  \-2th  St., 

NEW  YORK. 


IT  would  be  affectation  studiously  to  avoid,  or  to  apologize 
for  the  frequent  use  of  a  personal  pronoun  in  a  personal 
narrative.  It  is  a  necessity. 

The  manuscript  was  first  offered  to  a  prominent  literary 
magazine.  It  was  returned  with  the  objection  that  it  was  too 
impartial.  No  higher  praise  is  asked  for  the  book. 

When  I  parted  from  my  old  school-mate,  HORACE  F. 
CLARK,  at  Ogden,  I  said  :  "  If  I  write  a  book  I  shall  dedi- 
cate it  to  you." 

It  was  his  laudable  ambition  to  control  the  great 
trans-continental  railway  lines  of  the  United  States.  Had  he 
lived,  he  would  have  succeeded ;  and  his  honest  and  saga- 
cious administration, would  have  maintained  the  value  of  the 
roads,  and  developed  the  resources  of  the  Great  West  to 
their  most  available  capacity. 

His  death  occasioned  a  loss  to  the  material  interests  of 
his  country,  and  is  sincerely  mourned  by  his  numerous  friends, 
one  of  whom 

Inscribes  tl)is  little  bohune 

&*  «  fcrftutt 

®o  1)10  fttcmorj). 


THE  MORMON   COUNTRY. 


CHAPTER  I. 

The  Overland  Trip. — Experience  of  Hasty  Travellers. — Arrival  at 
Salt  Lake  City. — Reception  by  Brigham  Young. — Excursion  on  the 
Utah  Southern  Railroad. — Meeting  at  the  Tabernacle. — Leaving 
Salt  Lake  for  California. — Return  to  Salt  Lake. 

THE  overland  trip  is  becoming  a  fashionable  re- 
laxation. Improvements  in  railroad  locomotion, 
by  which  nervous  persons  may  spend  days  and  nights 
in  rapid  motion  and  fancied  security,  decide  the  di- 
rection of  their  summer  travel.  Those  who  but  for  the 
wreck  of  the  Atlantic,  and  the  sinking  of  the  Ville  du 
Havre,  might  have  "  gone  abr.oad,"  now  discover  that 
their  own  country  has  unsurpassed  attractions.  The 
Yosemite  supplants  Switzerland  for  romantic  tourists, 
and  Santa  Barbara  on  the  Pacific  shore  offers  a  cure 
for  the  clergyman's  sore-throat  equal  to  that  of  a 
voyage  to  Europe. 

But  in  the  haste  with  which  our  people  generally 
congratulate  themselves  upon  having  "done"  the 
overland  journey,  they  are  content  to  be  whisked 

over  the  rails  to  their  destination,   making  notes  on 

i 


2  THE  OVERLAND   TRIP. 

the  way  of  what  they  see  from  the  windows  of  the 
cars,  or  at  the  restaurants  where  they  are  allowed 
twenty  minutes  for  refreshments.  A  maudlin  curi- 
osity induces  many  travellers  to  time  their  arrival  at 
Ogden  on  Saturday,  so  that  they  may  branch  off  and 
spend  Sunday  at  Salt  Lake  City,  take  a  drive  of  an 
hour  or  two  there,  go  to  the  Tabernacle  meeting,  see 
Brigham  Young's  house,  if  not  Brigham  himself,  peep 
into  some  dwelling  where  a  man  is  supposed  to  have 
more  than  one  wife,  and  return  in  time  to  take  the 
Sunday  evening  train  for  the  West.  They  buy  a  big 
book  written  by  Mr.  Stenhouse,  a  small  book  by 
Mrs.  Stenhouse,  and  the  "  Life  of  Bill  Hickman,  the 
Destroying  Angel,"  and,  having  read  up  thoroughly, 
fill  the  cavities  of  their  minds  with  details  from  these 
to  supply  what  they  did  not  learn  from  their  extended 
visit  of  half  a  day.  Thus  they  become  perfectly  in- 
formed as  to  the  character  and  social  status  of  the 
Mormon  people. 

I  have  varied  somewhat  from  this  usual  routine, 
having  passed  three  months  chiefly  among  the  Mor- 
mons, and  have  neglected  reading  the  books  referred 
to,  with  the  exception  of  that  of  Mrs.  Stenhouse, 
which  came  accidentally  in  my  way.  I  stayed  some 
weeks  in  Salt  Lake  City,  and  passed  others  in 
wagon  and  horseback  journeys  through  the  valleys 
and  mountains,  indebted  to  the  hospitality  of  Mor- 


PRESIDENT   YOUNG.  3 

mon  and  Gentile  alike,  and  am  somewhat  prepared  to 
give  an  account  of  things  that  I  saw,  not  of  things  as 
they  ought  or  ought  not  to  be. 

Just  before  leaving  I  waited  on  President  Young 
to  pay  a  parting  call.  Expressing  to  him  my  obliga- 
tions for  the  polite  attentions  of  himself  and  of 
several  members  of  his  family,  he  said,  "I  am  glad 
you  have  been  civilly  treated,  but, don't  let  that  pre- 
judice you  in  our  favor.  If  you  say  anything  about 
us,  tell  the  truth."  This  is  what  I  propose  to  do,  in  a 
running  account  of  travel,  with  some  comments  on 
the  social  condition  of  the  people  and  the  agricultural 
and  mineral  resources  of  the  country. 

It  will  perhaps  be  remembered  that  in  May  last 
the  late  Hon.  Horace  F.  Clark,  President  of  the  Union 
Pacific  Railroad,  visited  Salt  Lake  City,  in  company 
with  Speaker  Elaine,  and  a  party  of  other  gentlemen 
and  some  ladies.  The  newspapers  gave  full  accounts 
of  their  reception  and  of  the  impressions  made  by  it. 
I  was  fortunate  enough  to  arrive  with  them  at  Ogden, 
and  there  joining  the  party,  participated  in  the  atten- 
tions bestowed  upon  them. 

At  Ogden,  which  is  also  the  junction  of  the  Union 
and  Central  Pacific  Railroads,  the  Utah  Central,  a 
profitable  branch  thirty-eight  miles  long,  built  and 
owned  almost  exclusively  by  Mormons,  connects  with 
Salt  Lake  City.  It  may  here  be  remarked  that  the 


4  RAILROADS. 

former  policy  of  this  people  was  seclusive,  and  con- 
sequently strongly  opposed  to  all  railroad  enterprises. 
But  when  inevitable  fate  pushed  the  Union  Pacific 
and  Central  Pacific  lines  across  the  continent  directly 
through  their  territory,  they  wisely  concluded  to  make 
the  innovation  profitable  as  it  was  unavoidable. 

As  will  be  seen  in  the  course  of  this  narrative,  the 
rapid  development  of  the  mines  of  Utah  has  made 
not  only  this  road  highly  remunerative,  but  is  already 
extending  it  north  and  south,  while  other  lines  from 
the  various  mining  canons  are  being  constructed  to 
connect  with  it  at  Salt  Lake  City. 

Our  track  lay  for  some  distance  along  the  borders 
of  the  lake  itself,  which  extends  to  within  fifteen  miles 
of  the  town. 

We  arrived  in  a  pouring  rain,  that  continued  for 
most  of  the  time  we  were  there.  Had  this  been  all 
that  we  could  have  seen  of  the  city,  most  certainly 
our  impressions  of  it  would  not  have  been  very 
favorable. 

On  the  next  day  Brigham  Young,  who  was  "  unre- 
mitting in  his  attentions,"  gave  us  an  excursion  on 
the  Utah  Southern  Railroad,  intending  to  show  us 
some  of  the  mining  districts  in  the  canons  ;  but  it 
rained  so  hard  that  we  were  obliged  to  return,  after 
going  out  thirty  miles — Brigham  jocosely  remarking 
that  "  Utah  was  always  under  a  cloud  when  viewed 


INTRODUCTIONS.  5 

by  congressional  eyes,  although  everything  was  serene 
when  the  people  were  left  to  themselves." 

We  were  accompanied  by  several  of  his  small 
family,  to  whom,  as  well  as  to  himself,  the  ladies  of 
our  party  were  introduced,  their  curiosity  overcoming 
the  indignation  with  which  they  regarded  his  over- 
doing the  practice  of  matrimony.  They  admitted  that 
he  was  certainly  a  very  polite  old  gentleman,  and  they 
drew  an  argument  in  favor  of  their  own  sex  from  the 
consideration  that  a  man  who  had  been  so  very  re- 
peatedly and  continually  married,  had  arrived  at  the 
age  of  seventy-three  in  such  a  good  state  of  preser- 
vation, without  any  appearance  of  having  been  hen- 
pecked. They  reasoned  very  adroitly  that  if  a  man 
in  Utah  could  stand  against  the  aggregated  temper  of 
seventeen  women,  a  man  anywhere  should  not  com- 
plain of  the  violence  of  one. 

On  the  next  day,  Sunday,  we  attended  church  at 
the  Tabernacle,  an  immense  edifice  capable  of  con- 
taining twelve  thousand  people,  all  of  whom  were 
present ;  for  a  large  part  of  the  population  of  the  city 
and  many  from  the  adjoining  country  had  turned  out 
in  honor  of  the  occasion. 

The  order  of  exercises  was  much  the  same  as  in  a 

% 

Congregational  Church,  with  the  exception  that  there 
was  an  economy  of  time  in  the  administration  of  the 
sacrament  while  the  preaching  was  going  on,  and  a 


'6  TABERNACLE  SERVICES. 

change  in  the  substitution  of  water  for  wine.  Nor 
did  I  notice  in  the  hymns  or  prayers,  or  in  the  re- 
marks of  the  first  preacher,  any  peculiarity  of  doc- 
trine which  would  have  surprised  me  in  one  of  our 
churches.  This  only  appeared  when  Brigham  fol- 
lowed the  sermon  with  a  few  remarks  of  his  own, 
evidently  intended  for  Speaker  Elaine,  wherein  he 
proved  from  the  Bible  conclusively  to  himself,  if  not 
to  Mr.  Blaine  and  the  rest  of  us,  that  in  their  preach- 
ing the  Mormons  were  in  accordance  with  the  teach- 
ings of  Scripture,  whereas  he  said  all  other  denomi- 
nations of  Christians  repudiated  them. 

Behind  the  pulpit  were  seated  the  choir,  males  on 
one  side  and  females  on  the  other,  with  a  splendid 
organ  at  the  end,  said  to  be  the  largest  in  the 
country,  with  the  exception  of  that  in  Boston.  It 
is  entirely  of  domestic  workmanship,'  and  in  appear- 
ance and  tone  is  a  credit  to  the  builder. 

Brigham  is  an  ultra-protectionist,  and,  as  a  worldly 
idol,  would  be  worshipped  in  Pennsylvania.  His 
great  idea,  before  the  advent  of  railroads,  was  to 
make  Utah  entirely  independent  of  the  outer  world. 
He  was  on  the  high  road  to  success,  as  proved  by 
the  specimens  we  saw  in  the  museum.  Utah  can, 
if  need  be,  provide  every  article  of  food  and  cloth- 
ing that  its  people  require,  and  in  addition  to  these 
almost  every  luxury,  including  tobacco  (the  use  of 


THE   CONGREGATION.  7 

which  is,  however,  discouraged),  wines,  silk,  and 
possibly  tea.  Mills  of  every  description  abound  in 
the  territory,  and  almost  every  grain  and  fruit  is 
indigenous  to  some  part  of  the  soil.  All  was  to  be 
of  domestic  production — food,  clothing,  and  literature 
as  well  as  religion,  and  so  the  organ  was  built  here 
as  an  adjunct  of  the  last. 

On  each  side  of  the  desk  were  seated  the  apostles 
and  elders,  men  generally  of  advanced  age.  The  con- 
gregation was  neatly  though  not  expensively  dressed, 
and  saving  that  the  women,  except  in  rare  instances, 
were  not  disfigured  by  false  hair  and  artificial  humps, 
there  was  nothing  particularly  remarkable  in  the  ap- 
pearance of  the  crowd.  Brigham  bestowed  his  apos- 
tolic benediction  alike  on  Mormon  and  Gentile,*  and 
then  we  took  the  train  for  Ogden.  From  thence 
several  of  our  party,  including  Mr.  Elaine  and  Mr. 
Pullman,  with  their  families,  and  the  charmingly  viva- 
cious "  Gail  Hamilton,"  went  on  9  our  way  to  Cali- 
fornia, it  being  the  intention,  afterwards  realized  by 
some  of  us,  to  return  to  Salt  Lake. 

Long  will  memory  cherish  the  beauties  of  the  great 
West  beyond  Utah  ;  the  crossing  of  the  Sierra  Neva- 
das,  so  much  more  grand  and  picturesque  than  the 
Rocky  Mountains  ;  the  descent  from  their  snowy  sum- 
mits to  the  luxuriant  plains  of  the  Pacific  slope,  waving 

*  In  Utah  every  one  not  a  Mormon  is  styled  a  "  Gentile." 


8  TO   CALIFORNIA  AND   RETURN. 

with  grain  and  dotted  with  clumps  of  live-oak  ;  the 
inhaling  of  the  balmy  and  delicious  air  where  every 
breath  was  health  ;  the  great  city  of  San  Francisco  and 
its  pleasant  surroundings;  and  then,  on  our  return,  the 
visit  to  the  Yosemite,  that  wonder  of  wonders,  while 
the  "  Big  Trees"  we  passed  on  our  approach  to  it  still 
loom  up  in  the  vista  of  pleasing  remembrance,  each 
tree  a  forest  of  itself. 

Nor  did  we  forget  to  linger  a  few  days  at  Lake 
Tahoe,  on  the  western  side  of  the  Sierras,  six  thou- 
sand five  hundred  feet  above  the  level  of  the  sea, 
thirty-five  miles  in  length,  fringed  by  mountains  of 
everlasting  snow,  of  clear,  transparent  depths,  full  of 
great  salmon-trout  that  came  so  readily  to  our  hooks. 
And  then  we  returned  to  Salt  Lake  City,  for  we  had 
promised  Mr.  John  W.  Young  that  we  should  be 
there  on  the  last  of  June. 


CHAPTER  II. 

Appearance  of  the  City  in  Sicmmer. — Fourth  of  July. — Departure  for 
the  North. —  Utah  Northern  Railroad. — Enterprise  of  Mr.  Rich- 
ardson.— Resources  of  the  Road. —  Towns  on  the  Route. — Brigham 
Young,  Jr.,  and  Family. — Hospitality  of  Bishop  Hatch. — John- 
soit's  Ranch. — Arrival  at  Soda  Springs. 

FAR  different  was  the  appearance  of  the  city  from 
that  presented  to  us  in  the  rain-storms  of  May. 
Now  the  weather  was  settled  and  bright,  the  harvests 
were  ripe  for  the  sickle,  the  trees  were  loaded  with 
fruit,  and  all  things  wore  faces  of  smiles. 

Imagine  a  city  of  twenty-five  thousand  inhabitants, 
each  dwelling-house  in  a  garden  enclosure  of  one  and  a 
quarter  acre,  full  of  trees  and  vines  ;  all  the  streets  wide, 
and  intersecting  each  other  as  they  run  from  north  to 
south  and  east  to  west ;  on  both  sides  of  every  one  of 
them  a  clear  running  stream  of  water  supplied  from 
the  hills,  so  that  every  man  may  irrigate  his  land 
with  the  least  possible  trouble  and  expense.  Thus  is 
Salt  Lake  City  and  every  town  in  the  territory  laid 

g 

out.    The  soil,  when  not  watered,  is  a  barren,  alkaline 
desert ;    when   it   is   watered   it   is  a  lovely  garden. 


10  IRRIGATION — HOTELS. 

Nature  has  been  conquered  by  the  hand  of  man,  and 
accepts  her  defeat  with  smiles. 

Nor  is  it  only  in  the  towns  that  the  system  of  irri- 
gation prevails.  Thousands  and  tens  of  thousands 
of  acres  of  farm-land  are  thus  rescued  from  inac- 
tivity, and  now  produce  fifty  bushels  of  wheat  to  the 
acre  where  nothing  but  wild  sage-brush  would  formerly 
grow.  When  the  recent  foundation  of  the  city  is  con- 
sidered, it  will  not  seem  surprising  that  many  of  the 
houses  are  still  small  and  unpretentious,  some  of  the  old 
adobe  shanties  yet  remaining.  But  these  are  rapidly 
giving  place  to  large  and  expensive  houses  of  brick 
and  stone.  There  are  several  first-class  hotels  which 
would  do  credit  to  any  eastern  city.  Among  the 
public  buildings  most  worthy  of  mention  is  the  Taber- 
nacle— chiefly  remarkable  for  its  size,  for  it  has  no 
beauty—  the  city  hall,  and  the  theatre,  recently  reno- 
vated and  always  well  attended.  The  city  is  remark- 
ably clean  and  healthy.  This  is  owing  not  only  to  the 
salubrity  of  the  air,  but  to  the  running  waters  in  the 
streets.  The  domains  of  Brigham  Young  are  secluded 
behind  high  walls.  Although  he  is  the  wealthiest 
man  in  the  place,  his  house  is  simple  in  its  architec- 
ture and  far  less  costly  than  many  others  belonging 
to  rich  Mormons  and  Gentiles. 

We  happened  to  be  in  town  on  the  Fourth  of  July. 
The  day  was  celebrated  in  the  usual  style  by  orations 


MORMON  PATRIOTISM.  II 

and  fire-crackers.  There  were  also  excursions  to  the 
canons,  and  on  the  only  steamboat  on  Salt  Lake. 
But  the  24th  of  July  is  the  special  Mormon  holi- 
day, that  being  the  anniversary  of  the  arrival  of 
the  Saints  upon  these  plains.  On  the  24th  I  was 
away  in  the  mountains,  and  do  not  know  how  much 
general  patriotism  was  mingled  with  territorial  rights ; 
but  on  the  day  of  national  independence,  whatever 
may  have  been  the  former  antagonism  of  the  people 
to  the  United  States  authorities,  there  was  nothing 
of  the  kind  apparent  now.  The  star-spangled  banner 
was  waved  as  exultingly  by  them  as  by  any  people 
of  this  broad  land,  and  they  were  as  loud  as  any  of 
us  in  their  protestations  of  allegiance. 

On  the  5th  of  July  I  left  the  city  with  Mr.  John 
W.  Young,  at  his  invitation,  for  a  tour  to  the  North. 
Again  passing  over  the  Utah  Central  Railroad  to 
Ogden,  we  were  taken  on  the  Central  Pacific  to  the 
westward  for  twenty-four  miles  to  Corinne,  where 
we  took  the  narrow-gauge  railroad,  then  completed 
for  forty  miles  north  to  Logan. 

This  road  is  now  the  pet  scheme  of  my  friend,  John 
W.  Young,  but  it  owes  its  inception  and  construction 
chiefly  to  the  enterprise  of  a  single  eastern  capitalist, 
Joseph  Richardson,  Esq.,  of  New  York.  That  gen- 
tleman surveyed  the  whole  of  its  route  by  patient  foot- 
journeys,  and  became  so  well  satisfied  of  its  feasibility 


12  RAILROAD   CONNECTIONS. 

that  he  invested  a  fortune  in  its  stock,  and  is  now  fur- 
nishing its  iron,  engines,  cars,  and  equipments.  Be- 
sides the  branch  on  which  we  started  from  Corinne,  its 
main  trunk  is  already  finished.  This  diverges  from 
Ogden,  thus  connecting  with  the  Utah  Central  by 
crossing  the  junction  of  the  Union  Pacific  and  Central 
Pacific  Railroads.  Its  first  support  in  the  line  of  trade 
comes  from  the  iron  mines  at  Willard's,  fifteen  miles 
north  of  Ogden.  Thirty  tons  of  this  ore  have  been 
hauled  daily  by  tedious  wagon-trains,  destined  for 
the  smelting-works  at  Sandy,  and  now  the  railroad 
facilities  will  largely  increase  the  production,  especially 

• 

as  a  Pittsburgh  company  is  putting  up  iron- works  at 
Ogden  itself. 

Seven  miles  north  of  Willard's  the  road  reaches 
Brigham  City,  one  of  the  largest  and  most  thriving 
Mormon  settlements,  to  which  I  shall  have  occasion 
to  refer  again.  At  this  place  are  the  extensive  co- 
operative woollen  factories  and  tanneries,  giving  em- 
ployment to  a  large  number  of  hands,  and  finding  a 
home-market  in  the  territory  as  well  as  a  large  sale 
for  their  products  abroad. 

The  next  place  of  interest  is  Hampton,  twenty  miles 
still  further  north.  Here  are  the  stone-quarries,  pro- 
ducing an  excellent  building-material,  used  by  the 
Mormons  for  the  construction  of  many  of  their  pub- 
lic and  private  edifices. 


MR.  RICHARDSON'S  ROAD.  13 

It  may  be  mentioned  that  while  our  enterprising 
friend,  Mr.  Richardson,  has  such  intimate  business 
relations  with  this  people,  he  is  himself  a  devout  Epis- 
copalian, and  that  he  has  followed  the  suggestions  of 
Bishop  Tuttle,  of  Utah,  by  commencing  to  build  a 
church  of  his  order  at  Logan,  where  the  Mormons 
have  presented  him  with  the  most  eligible  site  in  their 
town  for  its  location. 

Assuredly,  this  manifests  a  kindly  feeling  between 
those  who  differ  so  widely  in  form  and  belief.  It  is  a 
liberality  that  will  astonish  people  who  have  credited 
all  the  stories  of  Mormon  exclusiveness  and  tyranny. 
So  the  stone-quarry  furnishes  material  for  the  worship 
of  God  to  Mormon  and  Gentile  alike. 

Among  the  prominent  Mormons  interested  in  the 
road  are  Bishops  Hatch,  Sharp,  Preston,  and  Shaw. 
Hon.  Mpses  Thatcher,  and  Judge  Smith.  The  latter 
gentleman,  who  resides  in  Brigham  City,  has  thirty 
sons  employed  in  its  construction. 

At  this  flourishing  town  of  Hampton  is  also  the 
dairy,  established  by  Brigham  Young.  Last  year  it 
produced  over  one  hundred  and  fifty  tons  of  some  of 
the  best  cheese  in  the  world.  Seventeen  miles  fur- 
ther north  is  Mendon.  Between  this  and  the  adjoin- 
ing town  of  Logan,  Brigham  Young  owns  one  of  the 
finest  farms  of  the  West,  comprising  ten  thousand 
acres  of  very  superior  land,  and  stocked  at  the  pres- 


14  CACHE   VALLEY. 

cut  time  with  six  hundred  head  of  cattle  and  large 
flocks  of  sheep,  selected  from  the  choicest  breeds. 

The  population  of  this  beautiful  valley  is  nearly 
twenty  thousand.  The  main  product  is  grain,  of 
which  seven  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  bushels  were 
harvested  last  year.  Most  of  the  wheat  has  been 
shipped  to  San  Francisco,  and  thence  around  Cape 
Horn  to  England.  The  farmers  have  realized  one 
dollar  per  bushel,  and,  with  the  expectation  of  a 
greater  ratio  of  profit,  double  the  amount  will  be 
raised  in  the  ensuing  year. 

From  Logan  the  road  is  by  this  time  running 
twenty  miles  beyond,  through  several  small  towns,  to 
Franklin.  Fifteen  miles  still  further  north,  on  its  pro- 
posed continuation,  a  coal-mine  has  been  recently 
opened.  Timber  is  abundant  in  the  canons  a  few 
miles  from  the  track.  With  all  these  advantages, 
present  and  prospective,  the  success  of  the  "  Utah 
Northern  "  is  assured.  As  the  government  directors 
of  the  "  Union  Pacific"  have  stated  in  their  official 
report,  it  will  be  one  of  the  most  important  feeders  of 
that  great  and  prosperous  national  highway.  It  will 
eventually  extend  through  Idaho  and  reach  Montana, 
thus  saving  the  present  tedious  stage-travel  of  five 
hundred  miles. 

Cache  Valley,  through  which  our  route  now  lay, 
is,  like  that  of  Salt  Lake,  bounded  on  the  east  and 


BRIGHAM  YOUNG,   JR.,  AND   FAMILY.  15 

west  by  high  ranges  of  snow-topped  mountains,  and 
about  the  same  width  of  twenty-five  miles.  Bear 
River  runs  through  its  entire  length  and  empties  itself 
into  Great  Salt  Lake.  Logan,  a  town  of  three  thou- 
sand inhabitants,  is  the  capital  of  this  county. 

We  arrived  there  in  the  evening,  and  were  con- 
ducted in  a  carriage  to  the  comfortable  and  well- 
furnished  house  of  Brigham  Young,  Jr.,  the  elder 
brother  of  my  companion,  and  met  with  a  very  cor- 
dial reception.  The  Logan  wife  of  our  host  is  a 
handsome  and  agreeable  lady,  as  is  also  another  of 
his  wives  whom  I  afterwards  met  at  "Salt  Lake.  A 
daughter  of  the  latter,  a  charming  and  accomplished 
girl  of  seventeen,  was  just  now  staying  with  her 
"aunt"  at  Logan.  This  was  my  first  night  beneath 
a  Mormon  roof.  I  was  struck  by  the  exact  obser- 
vance of  religious  forms  which  I  afterwards  found 
everywhere  prevalent.  In  all  their  houses-,  among  the 
rich  and  the  poor,  and  in  the  country  hotels,  a  bless- 
ing always  precedes  each  meal,  and  there  are  always 
morning  and  evening  prayers.  When  I  retired  to  my 
room,  instead  of  the  prayer-book  accompanying  the 
Bible*  which  I  often  see  in  the  houses  of  my  Epis- 
copalian friends,  I  found  the  Book  of  Mormon  placed 
upon  it.  I  do  not  think,  however,  that  the  Mormons 
themselves  read  this  book  very  much.  But  they  are 
astonishing  biblical  students.  They  can  quote  Scrip- 


16  CHARACTER   OF  BRIGHAM   YOUNG,   JR. 

ture  from  end  to  end.  They  did  this  in  a  way  that 
amazed  the  Rev.  Dr.  Newman,  and  they  are  per- 
petually flinging  texts  at  your  head,  especially  such  as 
they  claim  confirmatory  of  their  peculiar  doctrines. 

Brigham  Young,  Jr.,  is  a  portly  gentleman  of  about 
forty  years.  He  is  already  one  of  the  twelve  apostles, 
and  is  aspiring,  on  the  death  of  his  father,  to  succeed 
to  the  presidency  of  the  Church.  The  elder  Brigham 
is  known  to  favor  his  claims.  It  is  natural  that  he 
should  desire  to  perpetuate  the  priesthood  in  his  own 
line.  As  his  wishes  are  laws  with  his  people,  the  am- 
bition of  his  son  will  doubtless  be  gratified,  although 
there  are  many  abler  and  more  experienced  men  who 
might  be  selected. 

Young  Brigham  has  had  the  character  of  being 
rather  "  fast"  in  his  earlier  days,  but,  as  matrimony 
is  said  to  sober  a  man  down,  he  has  already  had 
enough  of  it  to  bring  him  down  to  -a  fair  standard  of 
sobriety.  The  changes  which  will  soon  come  over 
the  Church,  in  the  abolition  of  polygamy  and  in  the 
modification  of  other  peculiar  doctrines,  will  probably 
render  the  task  of  governing  lighter  for  the  son  than 
it  has  been  for  his  father. 

On  the  next  day  Mr.  J.  W.  Young  and  I  left  Logan 
in  a  wagon  for  Franklin,  a  distance  of  twenty  miles 
north.  Our  road  was  bordered  by  well-cultivated 
farms,  all  under  the  system  of  irrigation  and  ex- 


BISHOPS — INDIANS.  I/ 

ceedingly  productive.  Every  little  settlement  is  a 
bishopric,  and  Franklin,  a  town  of  one  thousand 
inhabitants,  is  under  the  keeping  of  Bishop  Hatch,  to 
whose  house  we  drove  on  arrival,  and  were  kindly 
received.  This  bishop  is  the  husband  of  three  wives. 
He  construes  the  Scripture  injunction  that  a  "  bishop 
shall  be  the  husband  of  one  wife,"  as  an  unfinished 
command,  the  words  "  at  least  "  having  been  omitted 
or  implied.  As  it  takes  two  houses  to  hol.d  his  large 
family,  I  was  not  surprised  that  my  friend  and  myself 
were  assigned  the  same  room  ;  but  the  occupancy  of 
the  same  bed  was  a  phase  of  civilization  to  which  our 
eastern  ideas  are  not  much  accustomed. 

In  the  night  we  were  awakened  by  a  cry  that  the 
Indians  were  stealing  the  horses  on  the  prairies,  and 
this  made  quite  an  excitement,  all  the  settlement 
turning  out  except  Mr.  Young  and  myself,  who  were 
guests  ;  and,  moreover,  our  horses  were  safe  under 
the  sheds.  The  Indians  got  off  with  half  a  dozen 
animals,  and  made  good  their  escape.  These  fellows 
are  getting  to  be  very  troublesome.  The  other  day 
they  killed  the  driver  of  a  Montana  stage,  not  far 
from  here,  and  robbed  the  passengers  and  express. 

In  the  morning  I  went  on  a  survey  with  Mr.  Young 
and  our  host,  to  the  ground  where  it  is  proposed  to 
continue  the  Utah  Northern  Railroad,  now  terminat- 
ing at  Logan.  Coming  to  a  spot  by  the  banks  of 


1 8        THE  BISHOP'S   BLESSING — A  MISSIONARY. 

Bear  River  that  could  be  traversed  only  on  foot,  a  lad 
and  I  were  left  to  guard  the  animals.  We  accord- 
ingly picketed  them,  and,  placing  our  guns  within 
reach,  amused  ourselves  by  trying  to  catch  some 
trout ;  but  we  caught  no  fish,  and  shot  no  Indians. 

We  all  returned  at  evening  to  spend  another  night 
with  the  bishop,  who  gave  me  a  parting  benediction 
in  his  morning  prayer,  when  he  implored  "  that  the 
eyes  of  thy  servant  who  is  providentially  with  us  may 
be  opened  to  the  light  of  thy  salvation."  Then  saying 
good-by  to  him  and  to  my  pleasant  companion,  Mr. 
Young,  whose  business  called  him  back  to  Salt  Lake, 
I  proceeded  up  the  valley,  driven  by  one  of  his  men, 
to  Soda  Springs. 

The  road  was  varied  by  hill  and  dale,  though 
generally  in  the  bottom  of  the  Cache  Valley.  We 
passed  the  first  night  at  Johnson's  ranch.  Johnson  is 
a  queer  old  Mormon.  He  is  not  a  practical  poly- 
gamist.  His  means  would  not  warrant  it.  He  has 
been  a  missionary  to  Australia  and  the  Sandwich 
Islands,  where  he  professed  to  have  made  many  con- 
verts to  the  faith,  and  now  has  retired  to  this  lonely 
spot,  where  he  seems  to  do  nothing  but  raise  a  few 
cattle  and  drink  a  good  deal  of  whiskey.  He  made 
us  comfortable  after  the  manner  of  Bishop  Hatch,  but 
I  fancied  still  less  turning  in  with  a  wagon-driver 
than  with  a  gentleman.  There  is  a  large,  warm  sul- 


RATTLESNAKES — SODA  VALLEY.        ig 

phur  spring  close  by  the  cabin,  in  which  we  both 
bathed  before  retiring,  and  this  partially  reconciled 
me  to  the  arrangement.  Mr.  Johnson's  neighbor- 
hood is  infested  by  rattlesnakes,  which  form  the  only 
excitement  of  the  place.  Soon  after  we  left,  on  the 
next  morning,  we  killed  two  of  the  reptiles  and  heard 
the  music  of  a  dozen  of  them  in  the  bushes. 

Passing  two  or  three  large  cattle  ranches  on  our 
way,  it  was  just  at  sunset  when,  leaving  an  extinct 
volcano  on  our  left,  we  turned  the  base  of  the  eastern 
mountains  in  a  gorge  where  the  Bear  River  makes  its 
exit,  and  our  path  wound  round  into  the  beautiful 
Soda  Valley  that  here  begins  its  northerly  inclined 
plane,  and  follows  it  up  for  fifty  miles. 

While  the  seasons  are  so  mild  in  the  lower  valleys, 
here  there  is  a  snow  embargo  for  four  or  five  months, 
and  often  for  weeks  at  a  time  there  is  no  communica- 
tion with  the  outside  world,  excepting  on  snow-shoes. 


CHAPTER  III. 

Soda  Springs. — A  Magnificent  Hotel. —  Virtue  of  the  Waters. — Hunt- 
ing and  Fishing. — Ptir  chase  of  "Little  Dick." — Directions  for  the 
Journey  from  New  York  to  the  Springs. 

THE  little  village  of  Soda  Springs  is  eighty-five 
miles  from  the  terminus  of  the  railroad  at  Logan, 
and  about  two  hundred  miles  in  a  direct  line  from  Salt 
Lake  City.  Although  a  Mormon  settlement,  it  is 
within  the  limits  of  Idaho.  One  of  these  days,  when 
the  railroad  is  completed,  its  mineral  waters  will  in- 
fallibly make  it  a  place  of  great  resort,  but  now  it  is 
simply  a  collection  of  twenty  log-houses,  one  of  which 
is  termed  a  hotel. 

Some  u  hotels  "  I  have  seen  in  the  wilds  of  Africa, 
the  plains  of  India,  the  slums  of  Constantinople  ;  but 
the  "  Hotel  Sterrit "  of  Soda  Springs  is  the  meanest 
building  of  that  description  into  which  I  ever  crept. 
Sterrit  himself  is  a  Mormon,  and  his  energies  seem  to 
be  directed  to  raising  a  numerous  family,  and  making 
his  boarders  pay  for  it  by  getting  nothing  in  return 
for  their  money.  Nevertheless,  I  spent  a  fortnight 
there,  and  I  know  that  I  can  attribute  my  health  to 


MINERAL   WATERS.  21 

the  waters,  for  food,  of  which  there  was  none,  could 
have  had  nothing  to  do  with  it. 

Of  these  springs  I  cannot  speak  too  highly.  After 
having  visited  Saratoga,  Carlsbad,  Kissingen,  and 
Vichy,  I  can  honestly  say  that  there  is  more  virtue 
in  these  springs  than  in  all  of  the  others.  What  is 
wanting  to  the  invalid  is  the  excitement  always  found 
iri  the  music  and  the  company  at  fashionable  watering- 
places  ;  but  these  deficiencies  are  counterbalanced  by 
the  pure  air,  and  the  abundant  amusement  of  hunting 
and  fishing.  These  two  are  pleasurable  means  of 
supporting  life. 

There  are  some  warm  springs  that  may  be  used  ad- 
vantageously for  bathing,  but  the  most  remarkable 
are  the  cool  soda-fountains,  of  which  there  are  several. 
These  come  bubbling  up  clear  as  crystal  from  the 
ground  in  great  pools,  and  are  delicious  to  the  taste, 
and  full  of  carbonic-acid  gas  as  the  soda  drawn  from 
the  druggists'  siphons.  Soda,  magnesia,  and  iron 
are  their  principal  ingredients,  and  I  do  not  know  of 
an  individual  having  tried  them  for  digestive  difficul- 
ties who  has  not  been  benefited  by  their  use.  By  and 
by  they  will  surely  find  their  way,  like  Congress  water, 
all  over  the  world,  and  will  meet  with  equal  favor. 

The  climate  is  variable,  yet  healthy  :  an  elevation  of 
eight  thousand  feet  above  the  level  of  the  sea  renders 
it  very  cool  in  the  morning.  The  glass  at  an  early  hour 


22  CLIMATE — HOTEL  STERRIT. 

often  indicates  forty  degrees,  rising  till  the  hottest  part 
of  the  day — this  is  at  four  in  the  afternoon — when  it 
frequently  stands  at  ninety  degrees,  and  then  the  air 
grows  cool  again  in  the  evening.  The  atmosphere 
is  so  rarefied  that  we  at  first  found  breathing  difficult 
after  slight  exercise  ;  but  one  gradually  becomes 
accustomed  to  this.  High  as  we  were,  there  were 
mountains  all  around  two  or  three  thousand  feet 
higher,  and  covered  with  perpetual  snow. 

There  were  very  few  guests  at  the  Hotel  Sterrit, 
as  most  people  who  come  prefer  to  camp  out 
and  do  their  housekeeping  out-of-doors.  Several 
members  of  Brigham  Young's  family  were  passing 
their  summer  here,  among  others  the  lady  who  is 
supposed  to  be  his  favorite  wife,  Mrs.  Amelia.  She  is 
a  very  pleasant,  agreeable,  and  rather  pretty  woman, 
of  perhaps  thirty-five  years,  and  it  is  said  that  she  has 
a  greater  influence  over  her  husband  than  all  the  other 
sixteen  ladies  combined.  He  is  now  building  for  her 
a  magnificent  house  in  Salt  Lake  City ;  that  is  more 
than  he  has  done  for  any  of  the  others,  and  this  par- 
tiality seems  to  justify  what  is  said  of  her  power. 

To  make  time  pass  pleasantly  while  "  undergoing  a 
course  of  the  waters,"  I  bought  an  Indian  pony  with 
his  accoutrements  of  saddle,  bridle,  cantinas  or  saddle- 
bags, etc.,  for  the  sum  of  sixty-five  dollars.  Little 
Dick  was  a  good  purchase,  for  I  not  only  rode  him 


LITTLE    DICK — SODA   SPRINGS.  23 

here  daily  on  hunting  and  fishing  excursions,  but 
afterwards  hundreds  of  miles  over  the  plains  and 
mountains  of  Utah.  The  untiring  beast  would  make 
his  sixty  miles,  and  in  one  instance  eighty  miles,  in  a 
day,  and  be  always  fresh  for  the  morrow.  The  six- 
hundred-dollar  thoroughbred  that  I  ride  in  the  Park 
is  not  worth  half  the  money  at  which  I  valued  little 
Dick,  who  finally  was  sold  for  forty  dollars  when  I 
came  away. 

The  Utah  Northern  Railroad  being  now  completed 
to  Franklin  from  its  new  starting-point  at  Ogden, 
Soda  Springs  is  within  an  easy  journey  of  a  week 
from  New  York,  by  the  New  York  Central,  Lake 
Shore,  Chicago  and  North-western,  Union  Pacific, 
and  Utah  Northern  Railroads.  The  whole  cost  of 
travel  over  these  various  roads,  including  sleeping- 
car  comforts,  need  not  exceed  one  hundred  and  fifty 
dollars.  A  new  and  comparatively  comfortable  hotel 
will  be  completed  next  spring,  and  doubtless  there 
will  then  be  more  "  society."  But  if  any  reader  can 
be  induced  by  my  experience  to  take  his  rebellious 
liver  there  for  satisfactory  repairs,  and  by  that  of 
others  to  have  his  rheumatic  joints  made  supple,  let 
him  not  forget  his  fowling-piece  and  fishing-rod. 
He  can  buy  a  pony  on  the  spot.  These  are  powerful 
supplements  to  the  unquestionable  virtues  of  the 
waters  of  Soda  Springs. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

Excursion  to  Fort  Hall. — Scenery  on  the  Road. — Kind  Reception  by 
the  Officers.— Their  Indian  Policy. — Camping  Out  among  Mosqui- 
toes.— A  Small  Drove  of  Horses. — Arrival  at  "  Hotel  Sterrit. " 

SODA  SPRINGS,  August  4. 

I  HAVE  just  returned  from  a  very  pleasant  wagon- 
trip  to  Fort  Hall. 

This  post  is  on  the  Indian  Reservation  in  Idaho 
Territory,  fifty-five  miles  west  from  Soda  Springs. 
In  company  with  Mr.  Mansfield,  a  gentleman  who 
was  on  his  way  to  Montana,  and  a  driver,  I  left  here 
after  breakfast  on  Saturday  morning,  in  a  double- 
spring  wagon.  It  was  a  very  cool  day  at  the  com- 
mencement, the  mercury  standing  at  thirty-eight 
degrees,  and  we  found  our  overcoats  quite  comfort- 
able ;  but  before  the  afternoon  had  passed  we  dis- 
pensed with  them,  and  would  have  been  glad  to  "  sit 
in  our  bones." 

The  first  part  of  the  journey  was  over  a  wide  plain 
with  high  ranges  of  mountains  on  each  side,  the 
snow  still  resting  on  their  summits.  It  was  much  like 
the  valley  of  Salt  Lake.  During  the  forenoon  we  shot 


CATTLE-DROVERS — THE   SUMMIT.  2$ 

half  a  dozen  grouse  and  some  pigeons,  and  at  noon, 
when  about  half  the  distance,  camped  by  the  side  of  a 
stream  where  the  willows  made  a  pleasant  shade,  and, 
turning  our  horses  loose,  lighted  a  fire,  picked  some 
of  our  birds  and  fried  and  roasted  them,  having  good 
appetites  for  our  meal.  Near  by  were  camped  some 
drovers,  with  a  herd  of  five  hundred  cattle,  bound  up 
to  Montana.  The  men  were  a  rough  but  lively  set, 
not  choice  in  language  or  manners. 

In  the  afternoon  we  started  again,  when  the  road 
began  to  ascend  through  a  canon  to  the  "Sum- 
mit." It  was  very  pretty,  although  entirely  devoid 
of  trees,  of  which  there  were  Jione  upon  the  whole 
road  excepting  the  willows  on  the  side  of  the  brooks, 
and  an  occasional  dwarf  cedar.  Neither  was  there  a 
single  habitation  of  any  kind.  Our  course  was  nearly 
due  west.  Just  before  sunset  we  reached  the  sum- 
mit, and  then  came  upon  a  magnificent  view,  as  we 
looked  down  over  a  lot  of  small  mountains  and  val- 
leys upon  the  immense  plain  through  which  run  the 
Blackfoot  and  Snake  Rivers.  There  was  a  light  mist 
rising  from  the  waters,  which  gave  the  appearance  of 
a  wide  blue  sea,  and  the  little  hills  intervening  looked 
like  islands  on  its  bosom.  The  high,  distant  mountains 
beyond  were  clearly  defined,  and  were  of  a  lapis-lazuli 
blue,  so  beautiful  that  it  cannot  be  described.  It  was 
a  view,  in  many  respects,  like  that  of  the  bay  of  Rio 


26  FORT  HALL. 

from  the  Serra  of  Petropolis.  It  was  still  before  our 
eyes  as  we  drove  rapidly  down  into  the  valley,  and  we 
lied  the  changing  hues  of  the  skies  and  of  the 
landscape  till  evening  covered  them  from  our  sight. 

Soon  after  dark  we  arrived  at  the  fort.  There  is, 
properly,  no  fort :  there  is  a  parade-ground  enclosed 
by  the  buildings  serving  for  quarters.  At  the  upper 
end  are  three  neat  cottages,  one  occupied  by  the 
captain  and  doctor,  who  mess  together,  another  as  an 
office,  and  the  largest  by  Lieut.  King  and  his  family. 
\\V  had  a  note  of  introduction  to  the  latter  gentleman. 
At  the  opposite  end  of  the  parade  are  the  stables  and 
sutler's  shop.  On  one  side  of  the  square  are  the 
soldiers'  barracks  and  wash-houses  ;  on  the  other  the 
commissary  stores  and  hospital.  In  the  middle  is  the 
flag-staff,  from  which  "The  Star-Spangled  Banner 
for  ever  shall  wave,"  to  the  terror  of  evil-doers, 
whites,  Indians,  and  half-breeds.  That  is  Fort  Hall. 

The  post  is  maintained  not  so  much  by  way  of 
precaution  in  case  of  trouble  with  the  Indians,  as  for 
protection  of  them  against  the  encroachments  of  the 
whites.  It  may  be  assumed  that  in  nine  cases  out  of 
ten,  as  has  been  clearly  proved  even  in  the  Modoc 
war,  hostilities  are  commenced  by  the  settlers,  trap- 
pers, or  miners.  On  this  Reservation  are  one  thousand 
five  hundred  of  the  Bannock  tribe.  They  are  a  lazy, 
inoffensive  set  of  beings.  They  are  fed  and  cared  for 


THE  OFFICERS   AND  THE   LADIES.  2/ 

by  the  government  on  the  economical  principle  that  it 
is  cheaper  to  feed  them  than  to  fight  them.  Lieut. 
King,  who  has  had  a  long  experience  on  the  frontier, 
understands  their  character  perfectly,  and  has  admi- 
rably succeeded  in  making  the  government  feared 
and  respected  not  only  by  the  Indians,  but  by  those 
wretches  among  the  whites  who  would  rob  and  other- 
wise maltreat  them  if  they  were  not  thus  restrained. 

As  we  drove  to  the  door  of  Mr.  King  it  was 
pleasant  to  see  two  ladies,  neatly  dressed,  sitting 
upon  the  piazza.  We  received  a  hearty  welcome 
from  the  lieutenant,  and  were  at  once  introduced 
to  his  wife  and  her  friend,  Miss  McCrea.  They 
we're  young  and  pleasing,  refined  and  intellectual 
women.  We  felt  the  contrast  of  this  society  as 
compared  with  that  of  Soda  Springs.  It  is  so  sel- 
dom that  a  visitor  comes  along,  that  Lieut.  King 
and  his  family,  Gapt.  Vivian  and  Dr.  Boone,  seemed 
as  glad  to  see  us  as  we  were  to  see  them.  We 
declined  their  offer  of  supper,  as  we  had  just  made 
a  meal  of  the  remains  of  our  dinner ;  and,  after 
sitting  with  them  an  hour  or  two,  were  shown  to 
a  large  airy  room  with  two  beds,  faultless  linen,  and 
everything  as  neat  as  wax,  Lieut.  King  apologizing 
because  he  could  do  no  better  than  to  put  us  in 
one  room.  An  apology  to  people  who  had  been 
living  at  Sterrit's  Hotel  !  We  slept  soundly,  of 


28  COMFORTS   AT  FORT  HALL. 

course.  In  the  morning  we  had  a  superb  breakfast, 
French  coffee,  cream,  muffins,  eggs,  trout,  chicken, 
etc.,  etc.  Well,  that  was  another  contrast  to  Sterrit's 
fried  bacon  and  Japan  tea. 

After  that  we  were  shown  around,  visiting  all  the 
buildings  and  stables.  The  Doctor  was  very  proud 
of  his  hospital  and  dispensary.  He  said  they  were 
in  such  perfect  order  because  he  never  had  any  use 
for  either  of  them.  Altogether,  including  the  soldiers 
and  hangers-on,  there  are  only  eighty  people  at  the 
fort.  The  ladies  seem  quite  contented.  Mrs.  King 
has  a  little  girl  four  years  old,  and  one  of  the  soldiers 
is  its  nurse.  The  Corinne  and  Montana  daily  stage 
passes  within  twelve  miles  of  the  fort,  and  they  send 
over  every  day  for  the  mail.  I  found  on  their  tables 
all  the  magazines  and  daily  New  York  papers,  and 
read  a  Herald  a  week  old.  When  I  left,  Lieut.  King 
and  the  Doctor  gave  me  a  lot  of  them,  including  June 
and  July  Atlantic.  What  prizes  to  bring  back  to 
Soda  Springs  ! 

Mr.  Mansfield  being  bound  up  to  Montana,  Lieut. 
King  sent  him  over  to  meet  the  stage,  in  the  fore- 
noon. They  would  have  kept  us  both  a  week  if  we 
could  have  stayed.  I  never  met  more  hospitable  peo- 
ple ;  but  I  wanted  to  be  on  the  best  shooting-ground 
in  the  morning  early,  and  so,  after  an  excellent  lunch, 
bade  them  good-by.  In  September,  Lieut.  King  and 


RETURN  TO   SODA   SPRINGS.  29 

the  Doctor,  with  ten  men,  are  going  on  a  scouting 
expedition  to  Soshone  Falls  on  Snake  River,  some 
four  hundred  miles  hence.  These  falls  are  said  to  be 
superior  to  Niagara.  They  urged  us  to  join  them 
most  enticingly.  It  would  be  a  horseback  journey, 
and  if  they  were  to  go  now  I  should  most  certainly 
accept  the  invitation. 

We  left  on  our  return  at  three  o'clock  in  the  after- 
noon, and  after  passing  over  the  summit,  where  we 
had  another  view  like  that  of  the  preceding  day, 
descended  on  this  side  to  the  banks  of  the  Port  Neuf, 
a  little  stream,  where  we  camped  for  the  night, 
having  shot  two  grouse  on  the  way,  from  which  we 
made  our  supper.  Here  we  lay  down  under  the 
wagon,  turned  our  horses  loose,  and  hauled  our  rugs 
over  us,  anticipating  sleep.  But  this  was  sadly  dis- 
turbed by  millions  of  mosquitoes.  They  got  in  under 
the  shawls  and  bit ;  but  the  worst  of  it  was  their  cease- 
less music.  However,  they  bit  and  sung  us  to  sleep 
at  last.  At  five  this  morning  we  harnessed  our  ani- 
mals and  started.  Soon  after  sunrise  we  shot  eight 
grouse,  and  then  it  began  to  rain  ;  but  we  covered  our- 
selves up  as  well  as  we  could  and  drove  rapidly  along, 
reaching  Soda  Springs  at  noon. 

Just  before  arrival  we  passed  the  camp  of  Mr.  Shirley, 
who  was  on  one  of  his  trips  from  the  West  to  "the 
East,"  as  he  calls  Laramie,  Cheyenne,  and  the  towns 


30  HORSE- TALK. 

along  the  U.  P.  railroad.  He  was  driving  a  herd  of 
twelve  hundred  horses  in  that  direction.  We  stopped  for 
a  few  minutes  to  "  talk  horse  "  with  him.  "  Big  busi- 
ness and  small  profits  "  is  my  motto,  said  Shirley. 
That  means,  small  profits  are  the  biggest.  "  Now  one 
of  you  Down-Easters  will  buy  a  hoss  and  trade  him 
for  another,  and  keep  on  one-hoss  trading  and  make 
fifty  dollars  out  of  it.  Well,  I'm  content  to  make  ten 
dollars  a  head,  and  that's  $12,000  for  my  trip.  It  will 
take  me  three  months,  and  then  I'll  try  it  over  again." 
On  my  way  home  I  met  Shirley  at  a  railroad  station 
some  eight  hundred  miles  east  of  where  I  met  him 
here.  He  had  but  a  hundred  horses  left  and  had  done 
better  than  he  had  hoped,  for  his  twelve  thousand 
dollars  profit  had  already  accrued  to  him. 


CHAPTER  V. 

Drive  to  Cariboo. — "  Cussedness"  of  a  Mule. — Too  muck  Whiskey 
and  Profanity. — Approach  under  Difficulties. — Meeting  a  Grizzly. 
— Hard  Sleeping  Accommodations. — Keenan  City. — Jeff  Davis. — 
Placer-Mining. — Ascent  of  the  Mountain. — Dinner  on  the  Summit. 
—Discoveries  of  Quartz- Gold. — Corraling  a  Mule. — Jeff  on  a 
Bucking  Horse. 

IT  was  my  intention  to  have  waited  a  few  days  and 
then  to  have  gone  to  Cariboo  on  my  pony,  but  the 
next   morning  a  party  of  three  men   came  up  from 
Logan,  and  so  urged  me  to  take  a  seat  with  them  in 
their  wagon  that  I  accepted  their  invitation. 

Having  exchanged  their  horses  for  a  mule-team,  we 
left  Soda  Springs  at  ten  in  the  morning.  We  soon  found 
that  the  mules  were  wretched  substitutes  for  the  horses, 
but  as  the  ground  to  Warmack's  ranche,  fifteen  miles 
distant,  on  the  Blackfoot,  was  quite  level,  we  cudgelled 
them  along  till  we  arrived  there  and  dined.  After  din- 
ner we  caught  a  few  trout,  and  then  started  to  com- 
plete the  remaining  thirty-five  miles.  We  got  on  over 
the  first  half  of  the  distance,  which  was  on  a  level  road, 
tolerably  well.  Then*  our  real  troubles  began.  The 


32  MOSQUITOES— MULES— A   GRIZZLY. 

mosquitoes  attacked  us  in  swarms,  the  ground  mired, 
the  mules  balked,  we  got  set  in  the  sloughs,  and  it 
.11  to  rain  in  torrents. 

The  road  was  now  all  up-hill  through  a  dark-wooded 
cafion,  the  moon  only  occasionally  breaking  through 
the  clouds.  So  we  travelled  along,  sometimes  by  her 
light,  and  at  others  by  the  aid  of  lightning  flashes,  often 
stopping  in  utter  bewilderment,  and  unwilling  to  camp 
in  the  rain,  especially  as  my  companions  had  a  positive 
engagement  to  arrive  in  the  morning.  One  of  the 
mules  was  particularly  lazy  and  obstinate,  continually 
lying  down  in  the  road,  and  obliging  us  to  club  him 
to  get  him  on  his  feet. 

Fortunately  our  driver  was  an  energetic  fellow.  He 
whipped,  clubbed,  swore,  and  yelled  steadily  at  the 
"  cussed  "  team.  ^His  swearing  was  something  stu- 
pendous and  perfectly  exhaustive  of  Heaven,  Earth, 
and  Hell,  and  of  all  their  inhabitants.  No  words  could 
do  it  justice.  But  the  climax  was  reached  when  it 
began  to  snow  thickly,  and  some  of  us  were  straying 
along  ahead  of  the  wagon  through  a  deep  gorge  in  the 
hills.  All  at  once,  within  ten  rods  of  us,  a  grizzly  set 
up  a  tremendous  growl  that  drowned  out  the  swearing 
of  our  driver.  We  just  dropped  on  all  fours  and 
crawled  back  to  the  wagon,  into  which  we  tumbled 
rather  quickly.  We  had  only  a  double-barrelled  shot- 
gun with  us,  and  all  of  us,  of  course,  had  pistols  ;  but 


ARRIVAL   AT    CARIBOO.  33 

these  small-arms  were  not  much  against  a  grizzly,  and 
we  did  not  intend  to  use  them  unless  he  attacked  us. 
So  we  drove  along  until  we  came  to  the  place  where 
he  was. 

When  he  heard  the  wagon  coming  he  trotted  out 
within  two  or  three  rods  of  us.  Then  our  driver  set 
up  a  yell  and  commenced  to  swear  in  a  style  that  ex- 
ceeded all  his  previous  efforts,  and  actually  scared  the 
grizzly  so  that  it  fairly  made  him  turn  tail  and  put  for 
the  woods.  Well,  we  were  glad  ! 

Onward  we  staggered  in  the  rain,  mud,  and  dark- 
ness—sometimes getting  out  to  belabor  the  mule, 
sometimes  steadying  the  wagon  from  capsizing,  until 
at  length,  at  half-past  one  o'clock,  we  came  to  a  log- 
house,  which  we  were  told  was  "  Cariboo."  The 
real  name  of  the  town  is  Keenan  City.  It  contains 
about  a  dozen  log-houses,  including  a  "  saloon,"  lodg- 
ing-house, and  restaurant,  entertainment  being  fur- 
nished on  the  "  European  plan." 

My  companions  were  not  satisfied  with  having 
emptied  a  two-gallon  jug  of  whiskey  during  the  day, 
it  having  given  out  soon  after  midnight.  So  they 
routed  out  the  saloon-keeper,  who  was  also  the  pro- 
prietor of  the  lodging-house,  and  took  several  more 
drinks.  It  was  consequently  after  2  A.M.  when 
we  were  shown  to  our  "  apartment."  This  was  a  log- 
house  of  one  room,  twenty  by  fifteen  feet,  in  which 

2* 


34  HARD   ACCOMMODATIONS. 

t\vo  gentlemen  were  already  sleeping  on  a  shelf  under 
a  blanket.  Two  other  double  shelves  were  provided 
for  us.  Neither  of  them  had  a  mattress  upon  it,  but 
they  were  furnished  with  horse-blankets,  and  pillows 
wu-e  not.  I  selected  the  least  inebriated  of  my  fellow- 
passengers  for  a  bedfellow,  and  turned  in  after  placing 
my  coat  and  pantaloons  on  an  empty  box,  using  my 
monkey-jacket  for  a  pillow,  and  walking  to  my  shelf 
over  the  bare  ground,  for  the  apartment  had  no  floor. 
But  we  were  all  tired  enough  to  sleep  until  seven 
o'clock,  when  I  awoke  first  and  got  out  of  doors. 

It  was  a  lovely  morning  after  the  storm,  and  the  air 
was  delightfully  cool  and  invigorating.  But  the  wretch- 
ed, woebegone  look  of  Keenan  City  !  The  street 
was  nearly  knee-deep  with  mud,  and  the  miners  were 
already  wading  through  it  to  their  work,  with  their 
picks,  shovels,  and  pans  on  their  backs.  I  went  to  the 
restaurant  and  found  it  was  kept  by  a  Scotchman  and 
his  wife,  an  Englishwoman.  It  was  an  agreeable  dis- 
appointment to  find  it  very  neatly  arranged,  and  my 
breakfast  of  toast  and  fresh  butter,  and  a  tender  beef- 
steak with  potatoes,  was  well  cooked,  and  served.  It 
was  far  better  than  anything  I  had  had  at  Soda 
Springs. 

I  met  Jeff  Davis  at  the  table— not  Jeff  the  rebel,  but 

;lu  teamster  whom  I  knew  at  Soda  Springs,  and 

who  is  well  known  all  over  this  country.     After  break- 


PLACER-MINING.  .         35 

fast,  Jeff,  who  has  somehow  taken  a  great  fancy  to  me, 
proposed  a  walk  to  the  placer  diggings,  a  mile  or  two 
outside  the  city  limits.  I  was  very  glad  to  go  with 
him,  as  he  is  a  very  intelligent  man;  and  was  able  to 
explain  all  about  the  working  of  the  placers. 

The  men  were  busily  employed  in  the  gulch  when 
we  arrived.  This  gulch  is  away  back  in  the  pine  for- 
est, and  the  sight  is  very  romantic.  The  men  were  at 
their  work,  and  near  by  among  the  trees  several  log- 
cabins,  tastily  decorated  with  spruce  boughs,  and  some 
very  spruce  young  women  too,  the  wives  and  daugh- 
ters of  the  miners,  around  them. 

The  process  of  placer-mining  is  hydraulic,  a  strong 
stream  of  water  being  turned  on  to  wash  away  the 
banks  of  dirt  and  then  running  through  wooden  flumes, 
in  the  bottom  of  which  the  gold  settles  and  is  after- 
wards removed. 

Besides  these  works  there  are  some  owned  by  poor 
men  and  Chinamen,  who  "pan  out"  the  gold  in  the 
primitive  way.  I  borrowed  a  pan  and  was  not  very 
successful,  getting  only  a  few  specks  of  dust  for  my 
trouble.  Indeed,  little  is  done  by  this  method  now, 
those  who  simply  "  pan  "  rarely  getting  more  than 
two  or  three  dollars  per  day. 

In  the  afternoon  Mr.  Brown,  my  landlord,  invited 
me  to  go  with  him  to  the  top  of  the  mountain  and  see 
the  place  where  he  had  been  successfully  prospecting 


36  ASCENT   OF  THE   MOUNTAIN. 

for  quartz-gold.  My  friend  Jeff  o  fife  red  me  the  use  of 
one  of  his  mules.  Brown  and  I  accordingly  started 
at  two  o'clock,  and  ascended  towards  the  mountain 
through  what  would  have  been  a  magnificent  forest  if 
a  recent  fire  had  not  sadly  marred  its  beauty.  Still 
there  was  a  great  deal  of  beauty  left.  There  was  no 
trail,  and  we  were  obliged  to  pick  our  way  through 
thick  underbrush  and  over  hundreds  of  fallen  trees. 
Cariboo  is  about  two  thousand  feet  higher  than  Soda, 
so  that  it  is  some  ten  thousand  feet  above  the  level  of 
the  sea.  The  mountain  is  fifteen  hundred  feet  above 
the  level  of  the  town. 

After  ascending  five  hundred  feet  we  came  to  patches 
of  snow.  Above  them  it  was  beautifully  green  with 
pines  and  grass,  and  just  where  gold  was  "  struck," 
halfway  to  the  summit,  there  was  a  great,  wide,  grassy 
lawn,  looking  as  if  it  had  been  laid  out  by  a  landscape- 
gardener.  On  the  edge  of  this,  among  the  pines,  were 
the  huts  of  the  prospecters,  made  of  bark  and  pine- 
boughs,  and  having  a  very  tasty  appearance. 

It  was  only  three  weeks  since  these  quartz-mines 
were  discovered,  and  the  ore  had  not  yet  been  thor- 
oughly assayed.  But  they  are  probably  very  rich, 
and  are  likely  to  be  the  original  source  of  the  deposits 
found  in  the  gulches.  Very  little  work  has  been  done 
in  them  as  yet  AfU«r  looking  at  the  specks  of  gold 
in  the  broken  quartz,  and  wishing  that  I  owned  the 


VIEW  FROM  THE   MOUNTAIN.  37 

mountain,  I  determined  to  get  upon  the  top  of  it  and 
tread  all  its  gold  under  my  feet.  I  found  a  very 
intelligent  young  Scotchman,  a  Glasgow  lad,  among 
the  prospecters,  and  he  went  with  me.  It  was  te- 
dious climbing  over  loose  rocks,  and  through  deep 
snow  ;  but  we  accomplished  it  at  last,  and  were  amply 
rewarded  by  such  a  view  as  no  pen  can  describe. 
We  were  on  the  highest  peak  of  the  range,  and  looked 
down  upon  lesser  mountains  of  snowy  summits,  and 
over  them  all  beyond  the  valleys  near  us,  into  valleys 
in  the  far  distance,  tracing  the  Snake  and  Blackfoot 
Rivers  for  at  least  a  hundred  miles,  and  taking  in  on 
all  sides  everything  that  could  be  seen  without  let  or 
hindrance  from  intervening  objects  as  far  as  the  eye 
could  reach  in  the  clear  atmosphere  on  this  brilliant 
afternoon.  The  extent  was  so  great  that  even  the 
beauties  and  grandeur  of  the  Yosemite  were  eclipsed 
by  the  magnificent  panorama.  We  descended  rapidly, 
sliding  over  the  snow-patches  down  to  the  green,  where 
Mr.  Brown  was  waiting  with  the  mules  ;  and  bidding 
my  friendly  Scotchman  good-by,  we  started  for  the 
town  below.  It  was  nearly  dark  before  we  arrived, 
but  our  faithful  animals  carried  us  safely  down. 

Thursday,  M.,  Aug.  6th. — Early  this  morning  Jeff 
turned  me  out,  saying,  "  Hurry  up  with  your  break- 
fast ;  the  mules  are  all  ready,  and  you  must  go  with 
us  over  beyond  the  mountain  and  see  some  of  the 


38  SURE-FOOTED   MULES. 

«>thcr  quartz-leads;    it  is  a  pretty  rough  ride  and  it 
will  take  all  day." 

My  toilet  was  made  in  something  less  than  three 
minutes,  and  after  breakfast  we  trotted  out  of  the  val- 
ley and  took  the  mountain-trail,  which  soon  was  lost  in 
the  thick  copses  and  fallen  trees.  Our  way  was  longer 
and  even  rougher  than  that  of  yesterday.  There 
were  almost  perpendicular  descents  into  ravines,  and 
a\vay  up  more  than  a  thousand  feet  above  the  valley, 
we  crawled  along  on  the  side-hill  like  flies  on  the 
edge  of  a  teacup.  Horses  could  not  have  held  on  ; 
but  these  sure-footed  mules,  bracing  themselves  up- 
wards, picked  their  way  in  a  most  wonderful  manner. 
It  was  far  safer  to  remain  on  their  backs  than  it  would 
have  been  to  dismount,  for  a  single  misstep  would 
have  sent  one  down  below  without  stopping  for 
breath. 

'"Your  mule  is  responsible  for  you,"  said  Jeff. 
"  Just  don't  touch  the  reins,  but  look  at  the  prospect  " 
— and  so  I  did  and  soon  forgot  all  care  for  myself  in 
the  contemplation  of  the  beautiful  and  sublime 
scenery.  Below  us  was  an  immense  basin-shaped 
valley,  carpeted  with  the  greenest  grass,  and  figured 
with  patches  of  giant  pines,  looking  like  shrubs, 
tth  us.  Over  beyond,  range  upon  range,  were 
clearly-defined  mountains  of  different  shades  of  dark 
granite  to  the  faintest  blue  in  the  far  distance. 


DINNER   WITH   THE   PROSPECTERS.  39 

In  this  way  we  rode  fifteen  miles  in  six  hours, 
when  we  came  upon  a  party  of  prospecters  known  to 
Jeff  and  Mr.  Perkins,  my  other  companion.  In  the 
early  part  of  our  ride  we  had  come  through  flocks  of 
mountain-grouse.  They  were  so  tame  that  we  shot 
them  with  our  pistols  from  the  saddle,  and  brought 
along  a  lot  of  young  chickens  with  us.  We  camped 
at  I  P.M.  with  Thompson  and  Graham  and  another 
man,  the  prospecters  who  had  just  discovered  a  new 
quartz-lead,  from  which  they  expect  of  course  to  make 
their  fortunes. 

Introduction  and  drinks  were  in  order  as  necessary 
accompaniments,  and  it  is  only  by*  falling  back  on 
absolute  temperance  or  rather  total  abstinence  that  I 
have  escaped  being  drunk  half  the  time,  and  being 
poisoned  for  life,  since  I  have  been  in  Cariboo. 
Messrs.  Thompson  and  Co.  made  us  welcome,  and 
offered  us  all  their  hospitalities. 

They  admitted  that  they  were  not  so  well  "  fixed  "  as 
they  might  be.  They  had  been  living  there  a  week, 
but  had  not  even  a  tent  for  a  covering,  and  had  lost 
their  axe,  so  that  they  could  not  cut  pine-boughs  to 
make  a  hut ;  but  they  had  chosen  a  romantic  spot 
among  the  thick  evergreens.  Within  a  few  rods  of 
them  was  a  large  snow-bank  from  which  water  enough 
melted  for  their  supply,  and  deliciously  cool  it  was. 
But  they  had  plenty  of  flour,  bacon,  and  whiskey  for 


4O  WHISKEY   AND    HOPE. 

food  and  stimulant  and  of  blankets  for  sleep.  They 
were  as  healthy-looking  a  set  of  men  as  I  ever  saw, 
notwithstanding  their  coarse  diet  and  bad  liquor  ;  for 
it  was  seasoned  with  hope  and  bright  anticipations. 

If  I  was  asked  what  miners  lived  upon  I  should 
answer,  "Whiskey  and  hope."  As  to  the  former,  I 
would  prefer  having  the  value  of  what  is  drunk,  to 
having  all  the  gold  that  is  panned  in  Cariboo  ;  for  the 
miners  spend  all  their  gold-dust  for  whiskey,  and  are 
still  in  debt  for  it.  As  to  hope,  they  are  always  living, 
and  that  joyfully,  on  "great  expectations."  So  now 
the  bottle  went  round,  and  then  we  made  a  fire  and 
picked  our  chickens. 

In  the  meantime  one  of  Thompson's  men  "  start- 
ed a  bake."  Having  the  yeast  already  prepared  from 
a  powder,  he  mixed  the  flour  in  a  frying-pan,  and 
in  less  than  fifteen  minutes  turned  out  a  great  cake  of 
bread  that  any  epicure  would  have  pronounced  most 
excellent.  By  this  time  we  had  prepared  half  a  dozen 
grouse  and  cut  them  up  for  "a  fry  "  with  bacon.  Our 
entertainers  gave  us  some  tea,  and  we  all  sat  down 
under  a  great  fir-tree  and  made  a  hearty  and  sociable 
meal.  Mr.  Morgan  was  an  old  salt,  and  had  been  a 
mate  in  the  Black  Ball  line.  We  had  sea-yarns  for  our 
dessert,  and  laughing  for  nuts  and  raisins. 

After  they  had  all  "  had  a  smoke"  and  some  more 
whiskey,  we  went  to  see  the  new  quartz-lead  near  by. 


QUARTZ-MINING.  41 

Some  of  it  was  decayed  mineral  which  yielded  on 
being  washed  in  a  pan  about  thirty  cents'  worth  of 
gold  in  ten  minutes.  By  this  rough  process,  however, 
half  of  it  was  lost.  I  was  quite  satisfied  that  they  had 
"  struck  a  good  thing,"  if  the  vein  is  not  all  surface. 
But  it  may  go  to  a  great  depth  and  may  not.  From 
each  side  of  the  great  mountain  already  described  runs 
a  stream  through  valleys  into  the  plain  below.  In 
these  valleys,  one  of  which  holds  Cariboo,  are  the 
placer  diggings,  all  along  by  the  side  of  the  streams 
washing  down  the  gold. 

The  miners  have  heretofore  been  contented  with 
these  deposits,  for  they  are  rich  and  sure.  But  they 
naturally  supposed  that  the  particles  of  gold  came  from 
a  quartz  source,  and  that  this  source  could  not  be  else- 
where than  in  the  mountains  whence  the  streams 
take  their  rise.  Hence  all  the  present  excitement  and 
prospecting  for  quartz-gold.  The  quartz-mines,  if  rich, 
are  generally  immensely  so,  but  they  are  much  more 
uncertain  than  the  placers,  and  require  a  great  deal 
more  capital  to  work  them.  I  should  rather  take  my 
chance  with  tfye  placers. 

We  "  packed  in"  a  lot  of  quartz  on  a  mule,  which 
Thompson  .sent  back.  While  saddling  our  animals  one 
of  them  got  loose  and  took  the  mountain  to  himself. 
Jeff  and  another  man  "put  for  him"  on  muleback, 
and  the  rest  of  us  "corraled"  him  on  foot.  It  was  a 


42  A   RUNAWAY   MULE. 

most  exciting  chase,  and  I  never  saw  such  riding  as 
this.  The  runaway  and  his  pursuers  galloped  and 
wheeled  on  the  edge  of  precipices,  among  bushes, 
trees,  rocks,  and  over  loose  stones  which  rolled  from 
under  their  feet  into  the  chasms  below,  the  riders 
shouting,  yelling,  and  swearing  at  the  chase  in  the 
wildest  and  most  horrible  style,  keeping  it  up  for 
nearly  a  half-hour.  By  that  time  we  had  surrounded 
the  mule  and  corraled  him.  Then  bidding  adieu  to 
our  hospitable  friends,  we  started  on  our  way  home, 
travelling  over  the  same  ground  on  which  we  had 
come,  and  shooting  some  more  grouse. 

As  we  came  over  the  divide  we  witnessed  a  most 
glorious  sunset,  the  last  rays  shooting  up  through  the 
valleys,  and  brightening  with  gold  the  clouds  that 
hung  between  the  mountains,  making  a  splendid  con- 
trast with  the  cold  gray  peaks.  We  were  at  home  at 
eight  o'clock. 

Mr.  Perkins,  who  I  should  have  said  is  the  mer- 
chant of  Cariboo,  invited  Jeff  and  myself  to  take  tea 
with  him.  His  log-cabin  on  the  outside  is  like  all  the 
rest,  but  on  entering  there  was  an  air  of  neatness  of 
which  certainly  none  of  the  others  could  boast.  In 
fact,  there  was  a  woman  in  the  house,  and  a  very 
lady-like  young  woman  is  Mrs.  Perkins.  She  had 
muslin  curtains  for  her  windows.  She  had  a  sewing- 
machine  in  one  corner  of  the  room,  and  in  the  middle 


THE   BUCKING   HORSE.  43 

of  it  she  had  a  table  set  for  herself  and  husband,  on 
which  she.  speedily  put  two  more  plates.  It  was 
spread  with  a  spotlessly  clean  cloth,  clean  napkins  in 
rings,  a  nice  stoneware  tea-equipage,  with  plated-forks 
and  teaspoons,  and  even  a  butter-knife  !  After  a 
good  supper,  the  gentlemen  adjourned  to  the  saloon, 
where  we  played  high-low-jack,  the  favorite  game  in 
these  parts. 

I  had  a  bed,  or  rather  a  board,  to  myself  last  night, 
and  thought  this  fortunate,  as  indeed  it  was.  After 
breakfast,  the  order  of  the  day  was  for  Jeff  to  break 
in  a  bucking  horse.  Before  he  was  fairly  seated,  the 
first  buck  threw  him  "  higher  than  a  kite ;  "  but  he 
calls  himself  "  a  wiry  old  cuss,"  and  he  was  not 
much  hurt.  He  was  on  the  horse  again  in  a  minute, 
and  then  commenced  an  equestrian  exhibition  that 
would  have  astonished  Rarey.  Such  mad  leaping 
and  plunging  is  not  often  seen.  The  animal  stood  on 
his  hind  legs  one  moment,  and  at  the  next  his  tail 
pointed  to  the  zenith,  but  Jeff  sat  as  if  glued  to  the 
saddle.  Then  down  he  went  on  his  side  and  rolled 
over  on  his  back,  Jeff  sliding  off  as  he  went  down, 
and  jumping  on  again  as  he  rose.  Down  again  and 
over  and  over  went  the  horse,  his  rider  always  avoid- 
ing being  rolled  upon,  and  while  he  plunged  never 
starting  his  trousers  from  the  saddle. 

For  two  hours  at  least  this  game  was  kept  up,  till 


44  THE   HORSE   SUBDUED. 

the  horse  had  fairly  bucked  himself  out  and  had 
sweated  himself  weak.  Then  Jeff  took  off.  the  saddle 
and  bridle,  and  putting  on  the  halter,  jumped  upon  his 
back  and  rode  him  up  and  down  the  street.  After  a 
while  he  dismounted,  faced  his  conquest,  and  looking 
him  in  the  eye,  remarked,  with  considerable  expletive 
earnestness,  "You  may  buck  some  other  fellow,  but 
I  don't  calculate  you  will  ever  buck  me  again  !  "  We 
were  to  have  gone  to  "  Iowa  Valley"  to  see  a  new 
placer  claim  on  this  day,  but  Jeff  owned  himself  too 
much  used  up  with  the  exercise  he  had  had,  to  take  a 
twenty-mile  ride.  So  we  postponed  it  till  the  mor- 
row. 

After  dinner,  Mr.  Perkins  invited  me  to  take  a  ride 
with  his  wife  down  the  canon.  He  put  her  on  a  quiet, 
ambling  pony,  and  gave  me  an  elegant  gray  horse  he 
had  just  purchased  and  which  he  did  not  think  would 
buck.  After  what  I  had  seen  this  morning,  I  clinched 
my  knees  to  the  saddle  in  anticipation  of  a  contin- 
gency, but  was  agreeably  disappointed,  and  we  had  a 
very  pleasant  ride  of  about  twenty  miles,  partly  on 
the  road  and  partly  over  the  hills  on  bridle-paths, 
coming  down  at  sunset,  enjoying  a  view  like  that  of 
the  evening  before. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

Ride  to  Iowa  Valley. — Mr.  Gallagher's  Welcome. — Arrival  of  Emi- 
grants.— Sunday  at  Cariboo. — Facing  a  Catamount. — Return  to 
the  Springs. — Indians. — Inducements  to  Visit  this  Country. 

ON  the  morning  of  August  Qth  there  was  a  lively 
time  corraling  the  animals,  but  they  were  final- 
ly roped  in,  and  we  started  for  "  Iowa  City."  This  im- 
portant town  is  situated  in  a  valley  on  the  other  side 
of  the  mountain,  distant  from  Cariboo  seven  or  eight 
miles.  There  is  nominally  a  wagon-road  for  all  the 
distance,  but  at  least  one-half  of  it  is  merely  a 
trail. 

Jeff  was  mounted  on  his  wild  horse  of  yesterday's 
performance  ;  but  to-day  he  was  gentle  as  a  kitten.  I 
had  the  same  horse  I  had  ridden  the  day  before. 
The  road  was  principally  through  the  "burnt  district" 
of  the  pine  forest,  and  had  a  gloomy  look  about  it ; 
but  as  we  began  to  ascend  the  canon,  we  rode  among 
groves  of  green  pines,  pleasingly  contrasting  with  the 
first  part  of  the  route.  All  along  the  banks  of  the 
stream  were  the  different  placer  claims  being  worked 
by  gangs  of  miners.  Some  of  them  were  operated  by 


46  MR.  GALLAGHER'S  WELCOME. 

hydraulic  pressure,  but  most  of  them  were  worked 
on  a  very  small  scale. 

We  stopped  at  the  residence  of  Patrick  Gallagher, 
Esq.,  and  found  that  gentleman  about  to  dine  with 
his  family,  consisting  of  a  large  dog,  a  small  cat,  and 
a  pig.  "  Bedad,  but  ye're  wilcome,  and  so  is  the 
gintleman  wid  ye,  Misther  Jeff,"  exclaimed  Mr. 
Gallagher;  "  me  dinner  is  jist  ready,  and  here's  a 
chair  apace."  With  that  he  shoved  two  empty  boxes 
towards  the  shelf  serving  for  a  table.  "  Divil  a  dhrop 
of  whiskey  have  I,"  said  our  entertainer,  and  I.  was 
not  sorry  to  hear  it,  because  it  was  such  a  rare  thing 
to  get  an  introduction  to  a  gentleman  without  a 
drink.  "  But  here's  an.  illigant  pace  of  boiled  beef, 
and  potaties  and  bread  for  ye,  and  there's  wather 
for  ye,  if  ye  know  the  taste  of  it." 

Mr.  Gallagher  had  two  knives  and  one  fork  for  his 
table  service.  "The  fork  is  aisy  divided,"  he  said, 
"  for  there's  three  prongs  to  it,  and  that's  one  apace, 
but  be  me  sowl  it  bothers  me  to  share  round  the 
knives  ! "  However,  we  managed  to  make  a  very 
hearty  meal,  notwithstanding  deficiencies  of  table 
service.  As  nearly  as  I  could  measure  the  one- 
roomed  house  by  the  eye,  it  was  ten  feet  by  six. 
This,  of  course,  included  eating-room,  sleeping-room, 
kitchen,  and  hall. 

After  dinner  we  went  out  to  see  his  claim,  which 


IOWA   CITY.  47 

he,  in  connection  with  three  partners,  worked  with 
hydraulics.  He  said  they  had  averaged  ten  dollars  a 
day  apiece  this  summer,  and  expressed  himself  as 
"  continted."  Well  he  might  be. 

I  really  could  not  find  "  Iowa  City,"  although  I  was 
assured  that  we  had  been  there.  Here  and  there, 
within  the  distance  of  half  a  mile,  there  were  some 
log-cabins,  in  all  perhaps  half  a  dozen,  and  these 
must  have  been  in  the  different  wards  of  Iowa  City. 
The  last  place  to  which  we  came  was  the  residence 
of  William  Clemens,  Esq.,  the  head  man  of  the 
place  ;  there  we  alighted,  tied  our  horses  to  trees, 
and  then  went  with  Mr.  Clemens  to  see  his  claim. 
To  arrive  at  it  one  must  go  on  foot,  by  a  wild,  shaded 
path  through  the  pine  woods.  On  the  way  we 
gathered  a  great  many  whortleberries,  as  they  are 
called  here,  but  they  are  only  so  in  the  appearance  of 
the  bushes,  the  berries  growing  larger  than  the  east- 
ern whortleberries,  of  a  dark  purple  color,  and  being 
slightly  acid,  very  pleasant  to  the  taste. 

The  claim  of  Mr.  Clemens  is  in  the  bed  of  what 
was  a  stream  some  thousands  of  years  ago,  and  the 
developments  thus  far  have  equalled  his  expectations. 
To  judge  from  the  soil  around  it,  no  one  unacquainted 
with  mining  would  have  imagined  that  below  it  had 
ever  been  a  river-course.  The  intuitive  perception 
of  these  otherwise  ignorant  men,  which  enables  them 


48  ARRIVAL  OF  EMIGRANTS. 

to  prospect  successfully,  is  a  mystery  to  me.  They 
are  not  scientific,  but  they  are  very  practical  mineral- 
ogists. 

Returning  to  the  cabin  of  Mr.  Clemens  and  resting 
awhile,  we  mounted  our  horses,  and  came  back  to 
Cariboo. 

It  was  Saturday  night,  and  the  little  "  camp"  was 
somewhat  more  than  ordinarily  noisy,  profane,  and 
drunk.  Several  wagons  had  arrived  and  completed  a 
journey  of  many  weeks,  perhaps  months,  from  the 
"States."  The  women  were  busy  around  their  camp- 
fires  preparing  their  meals,  while  their  husbands  were 
carousing  in  the  "  saloon,"  and  they  all  felt  happy  in 
their  different  ways.  In  a  day  or  two  they  will  have 
prospected  and  selected  claims,  living  in  the  mean- 
while in  and  under  their  wagons,  as  they  have  done 
on  their  journey,  and  in  a  week  or  two  they  will  have 
built  and  furnished  their  future  homes — future — till  in 
a  future  more  remote  some  of  them  will  occupy 
brown-stone  fronts  in  Chicago  and  New  York.  Will 
they  be  happier  then,  when  dizzy  at  the  summit  of 
their  ambition,  than  they  now  are  at  the  base  of  the 
mountain,  toiling  cheerfully  in  the  ascent,  and  for- 
tunately ignorant  how  bleak  and  barren  is  the  pin- 
nacle beyond  which  they  cannot  go  ? 

What  would  this  life  of  ours  be  without  the  future 
that  is  in  it,  even  in  this  world  ?  As  we  advance  in 


SUNDAY  AT   CARIBOO.  49 

years  this  future  becomes  more  contracted,  but  still 
there  is  always  till  death  a  little  of  it,  and  it  is  in  the 
contemplation  and  magnifying  of  this  little  that  we 
have  our  chief  stimulus  for  exertion.  It  seems  to  me 
that  people  are  most  happy  when  about  half-way  up 
the  mountain.  They  have  then  plenty  of  anticipa- 
tions for  the  future,  and  a  pleasing  remembrance  of 
the  past,  while  they  are  not  too  high  for  the  beautiful 
things  around  them  to  be  dimmed  by  distance. 

A  Sabbatarian  would  have  been  disgusted  with 
the  manner  the  Sunday  has  been  observed  in  Cari- 
boo. There  is  not  a  Bible  or  Prayer-book,  or  even 
a  Book  of  Mormon,  in  the  place.  Here  we  are  out- 
side the  pale  of  the  Mormon  and  all  other  churches. 
But  the  people  do  not  forsake  the  assembling  of 
themselves  together  for  the  enjoyment  of  Sunday 
after  their  own  style.  The  grand  drunk  of  last  night 
has  been  continued  and  intensified  since  morning. 
To-day  even  the  Chinamen,  who  are  the  soberest 
and  best-behaved  of  the  population,  come  to  the  bar 
with  their  bottles  for  "  lilly  whiskey."  In  this  respect 
they  have  on  Sunday  embraced  Cariboo  Christianity. 
On  the  first  day  of  the  week  the  faro-table  is  more 
patronized  than  on  any  other. 

I  suppose  the  services  were  continued  in  the  after- 
part  of  the  day  as  in  the  forenoon,  but  I  was  not  a 
witness,  for  I  got  on  horseback  after  dinner  and  crept 
3 


.52  HOTEL   STERRIT  AGAIN. 

right  as  the  law  directs,"  which  he  obeyed,  as  soon  as 
he  saw  that  I  complied  with  it. 

After  a  sufficient  detour  to  avoid  him,  in  case  he 
should  change  his  pacific  determination,  I  came  into 
the  road  again,  keeping  a  bright  lookout  ahead  dur- 
ing the  rest  of  the  journey  for  any  intrusive  beast.  I 
stopped  at  Warmack's  ranch,  on  the  Blackfoot  River, 
the  only  house,  and  consequently  the  only  place  on 
the  road  for  refreshments  for  man  and  beast.  I  had 
trout,  and  the  horse  had  oats,  and  we  both  dined 
well.  I  left  Cariboo  at  10  A.M.,  passed  an  hour 
and  three  quarters  at  Blackfoot,  and  arrived  here  at 
5  P.M.,  so  that  I  was  but  a  trifle  more  than  five 
hoars  on  the  road.  I  was  now  again  at  the  "  Hotel 
Sterrit,"  and  this  writing  closes  the  account  of  nearly 
a  week's  absence  pleasantly  passed  in  a  trip  to 
Cariboo. 

There  are  but  few  Mormons  engaged  in  the  mining 
operations  at  Cariboo.  The  genius  of  the  people 
does  not  lie  in  that  direction.  They  are  almost  strict- 
ly addicted  to  agricultural  and  pastoral  pursuits.  Thus 
wealth,  or  rather  comfortable  independence,  is  more 
equally  distributed  among  them  than  in  most  com- 
munities. It  is  this  inculcation  by  the  Mormon 
religion,  rather  than  the  religion  itself,  that  makes 
them  a  happy  and  a  virtuous  people.  There  is  great 
wisdom  in  the  advice  given  them  by  Brigham  Young, 


BANNOCK   INDIANS.  53 

to  be  contented  with  their  crops,  their  flocks,  and 
their  herds.  They  follow  it  faithfully,  and  so  they  do 
not  go  to  Cariboo. 

There  are  many  pretty  rides  in  the  neighborhood 
of  Soda  Springs.  One  is  well  repaid  for  a  visit  to  the 
volcano,  to  the  mines,  and  sulphur  lakes,  to  the  moun- 
tain canons,  all  within  easy  reach  from  the  village. 
There  are  always  camps  of  the  Bannock  Indians  not 
far  from  the  town,  to  which  these  wild,  dirty,  but 
harmless  vagabonds  resort  for  trade. 

Notwithstanding  the  enactment  of  strict  laws,  they 
do  obtain  whiskey  from  the  traders  in  barter  for  skins 
and  game. 

The  management  of  the  Utah  tribes  by  the  Mormon 
government  while  it  had  supreme  control,  was  greatly 
to  its  credit.  The  Mormons  imitated  the  humane 
policy  of  the  Pennsylvania  Quakers,  rather  than  such 
a  war  of  extermination  as  is  advocated  by  Phil  Sheri- 
dan. This  is  the  General's  logic  :  "  They  are  a  miser- 
able set  of  wretches  who  must  inevitably  disappear 
before  the  progress  of  civilization.  In  the  meantime 
they  stand  in  its  way.  Therefore,  for  their  own  bene- 
fit and  for  that  of  civilization,  the  sooner  they  are 
cleared  out  the  better." 

True  enough,  all  attempts  to  domesticate  and 
elevate  them  have  been  failures.  It  has  been  thus 
from  the  first  settlement  of  New  England,  when  the 


54  INDIAN  POLICY. 

enthusiastic  Elliot,  after  spending  years  in  acquir- 
ing the  language  of  some  of  the  Massachusetts  tribes, 
devoted  other  years  to  translating  the  Bible  into 
their  tongue.  When  the  task  was  accomplished  and 
the  book  was  printed,  nearly  all  the  Indians  had 
passed  away,  so  that  there  was  never  a  demand  for 
the  second  edition. 

The  Indian  policy  of  the  government  is  indeed  sur- 
rounded by  difficulties.  Perhaps  Sheridan's  logic, 
though  cruel,  is  correct ;  but  the  work  will  be  better 
accomplished  without  a  resort  to  wholesale  butchery. 
The  moral  force  alone  of  a  strong  race  will  overcome 
a  weak  one,  unless  the  weaker  is  in  a  condition  of 
protection  amounting  to  slavery.  Thus  the  negroes 
who  increased  when  they  were  really  cared  for,  however 
unjust  the  system  holding  them  in  bondage,  now  that 
they  have  to  fight  the  battle  of  life  side  by  side 
with  white  men,  must  inevitably  succumb  and  disap- 
pear. Laziness  and  carelessness  of  the  future  belong 
to  them  and  the  Indians  alike.  But  they  have  been 
domesticated  by  slavery,  are  more  congregated,  more 
attached  to  localities,  and,  above  all,  they  are  Chris- 
tianized. So  they  will  last  longer  than  the  Indians. 

What,  then,  shall  be  our  policy  ?  It  seems  to  me 
that  Lieut.  King  at  Fort  Hall  expressed  it  correctly  : 
"  It  is  cheaper  to  feed  them  than  to  fight  them."  That 
is  true,  unless  we  mean  by  fighting  them  to  extermi- 


MORMON  JACK.  55 

nate  them  at  once.  Humanity  forbids  this.  All  that 
we  have  to  do  is  to  nurse  them  along  until  they  die 
a  natural  death.  * 

If  we  wish  to  hasten  this,  let  us  encourage  the  traders, 
who  will  bring  it  about  more  speedily  by  the  adminis- 
tration of  poisonous  whiskey.  Perhaps  those  philan- 
thropic gentlemen  think  they  are  doing  God  service 
by  clearing  out  these  Canaanites  with  a  more  potent 
weapon  than  was  put  into  the  hands  of  Israel.  It 
is  well  for  them  to  remember  that  "  it  must  needs  be 
that  offences  come  ;  but  woe  to  that  man  by  whom 
the  offence  cometh  !  " 

The  craving  of  Indians  for  spirituous  liquors  is  insa- 
tiable. It  is  impossible  to  repress  their  devilish  ap- 
petite. The  most  harmless  creatures  in  the  world 
without  whiskey,  when  it  comes  in  their  way  they 
invariably  get  drunk,  not  as  white  men  do  with  dif- 
ferent results,  but  always  to  quarrel.  "  Mormon 
Jack,"  as  they  called  him,  because  he  was  a  supposed 
convert  to  Mormon  Christianity,  was  a  splendidly 
formed  Bannock.  He  was  not  only  remarkably  hand- 
some, but  very  intelligent.  He  used  to  point  out  the 
best  "  trout-holes"  and  hunting-grounds,  and  be- 
came for  me  a  pleasant  companion.  One  day  I 
missed  him.  Asking  his  squaw  what  had  become  of 
him,  she  replied,  "Too  much  whiskey — too  much 
fight — too  much  kill."  Some  scoundrel-trader  had 


56  WHITES   AND   INDIANS. 

sold  to  Jack  and  another  Indian  each  a  bottle  of 
whiskey.  They  sat  down  in  a  friendly  way  to  drink 
their  liquor.  Both*  of  course,  finished  their  bottles, 
and  then  they  used  them  for  beating  out  each  other's 
brains.  Nobody  thought  much  of  it,  for  they  were 
— only  Indians  !  But  I  fancied  that  Mormon  Jack  had 
a  soul. 

On  one  of  my  rides  in  the  direction  of  Bear  Lake, 
I  met  'a  caravan  of  wagons  going  west.  They  were 
filled  with  Indians,  most  of  them  women,  and  all  of 
them  old  or  diseased.  Asking  the  white  men  in 
charge  where  they  were  going,  they  replied,  "  To 
the  Reservation.  These  thieving  devils  can't  sup- 
port themselves  in  the  settlements,  and  so  we  are 
going  to  take  them  there."  "  What,  all  the  way  to 
Fort  Hall?  "  "  Not  a  bit  of  it,"  replied  one  of  the 
teamsters;  "we  are  only  going  to  carry  'em  far 
enough  so  they  can't  get  back,  and  then  dump 
'em  !  " 

If  the  poor  wretches  ever  pressed  their  way  to 
our  kind  friends  at  the  Post,  I  am  sure  they  were  well 
cared  for ;  but  they  were  not  in  a  condition  to  walk 
fifty  miles. 

The  whites  almost  universally  looking  upon  the 
Indians  as  only  troublesome  wild  beasts  to  be  gotten 
rid  of,  we  may  well  believe  that  their  end  is  not 
far  distant.  By  the  direct  agency  of  the  whites  they 


ATTRACTIONS   OF   SODA   SPRINGS.  57 

are  sunk  to  such  a  depth  of  moral  degradation,  that 
intemperance  is  trivial  compared  to  other  vice.  No 
ingenuity  of  words  can  soften  a  description  of  their 
loathsome  and  avaricious  sensuality.  Their  wives 
and  daughters  are  always  in  the  market  for  a  bottle  of 
whiskey.  I  sometimes  think  that  Phil  Sheridan  is 
right,  after  all.  Decidedly  the  Indian  element  is  not 
one  of  the  pleasurable  attractions  of  Soda  Springs. 

There  are  enough  of  other  inducements  to  visit  the 
place.  The  really  wonderful  virtue  of  the  waters,  the 
pure,  unadulterated  air,  the  magnificent  mountain  sce- 
nery, the  rides  and  drives,  the  hunting  and  fishing,  all 
conduce  to  pleasant  pastime  and  restoration  of  health. 
At  only  a  few  hours'  journey  to  the  east  may  be  seen 
the  beautiful  Bear  Lake,  surrounded  by  pretty  villa- 
ges and  fertile  farms — all  this  region  destined,  before 
many  years  have  elapsed,  to  become  valuable  to  the 
outer  world  by  the  means  of  contemplated  railroads. 
The  summer  sojourner  need  never  to  be  at  a  loss  for 
recreation. 

I  do  not  agree  that  the  Old  World  is  "  played  out," 
and  that  it  is  entirely  superseded  by  the  New ;  but,  if 
I  may  judge  from  my  own  experience,  there  is  a  cer- 
tain freshness  about  this  simple  normal  Western  life, 
this  communion  with  untamed  nature,  this  study  of 
mankind  as  it  develops  itself  indigenously,  not  arti- 
ficially, that  far  exceeds  all  that  we  see  in  Europe  of 
3* 


58      THE  OLD  AND  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

polished   society,  cultivated   parks  and  gardens,    old 
cloisters  and  musty  universities. 

And  yet,  if  life  be  long  enough,  it  is  pleasant  to  see 
the  old  and  the  new  of  our  world.  This  may  be  more 
nearly  accomplished  now  by  any  one  who  has  the 
taste,  the  means,  and  the  time.  Time  !  alas  that  it  is 
so  short !  One  of  the  greatest  mysteries  is  that  in  the 
old  days  men  lived  long  when  there  was  so  little  to 
see,  and  that  we  live  so  short  a  life  when  there  is  so 
much  before  us  that  we  cannot  reach  !  Why,  in  that 
little  fragment  of  Asia,  when  the  horizon  of  the  known 
earth  was  bounded  by  a  span,  did  Methuselah  live  to 
the  age  of  nearly  a  thousand  years,  and  why  are  we — 
now  that  this  great,  beautiful,  glorious  world  is  ever 
opening  to  our  view — why  are  we  cut  down  to  three- 
score years  and  ten  ?  .  .  Come,  little  Dick,  time  is 
short,  and  we  can  stay  no  longer  at  Soda  Springs. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

Leaving  Soda  Springs. — Jeff  Davis  again. — Mr.  and  Mrs.  King  and 
Tilly. — Mrs.  Collins.— Johnson's  Deserted  Ranch. —  The  Small 
Family  of  Mr.  Robbins. — Bear  Stories. —  The  Dead  Sell  on  Jeff. — 
Western  Side  of  Cache  Valley.— A  Night  with  Bishop  Smith.— 
Plan  for  Irrigating  a  Desert. — Arrival  at  Corinne. 

I  INTENDED  to  have  left  Soda  Springs  earlier  in 
the  day,  but  it  was  so  excessively  warm  that  I 
deferred  my  departure  until  four  o'clock  in  the  after- 
noon. In  one  hour  I  was  out  of  the  valley  of  Soda 
and  on  the  great  plain.  With  the  intervention  of  a 
few  small  hills  this  is  a  vast  level,  running  all  the 
way  down  to  Salt  Lake,  where  is  contained  what 
water  there  is  left  of  a  once  large  inland  sea. 

For  most  of  the  way  the  valley  is  about  twenty 
miles  wide.  When  I  came  up,  we  took  the  road  by 
the  base  of  the  eastern  mountains  that  bound  it,  and 
now,  as  I  went  down,  I  took  that  to  the  west.  In 
either  case  the  route  is  very  beautiful,  mountains 
towering  overhead  on  one  side,  and  clearly  outlined 
and  continually  changing  their  colors  and  shadows  on 
the  other. 


60  JEFF'S  WAGON-TRAIN. 

The  pony  jogged  along  very  gayly,  considering  the 
load  of  accoutrements  which  he  was  obliged  to  carry 
most  of  the  way.  I  missed  my  gun  greatly,  for  the 
grouse  were  starting  up  in  all  directions  as  evening 
came  on,  but  they  were  always  just  out  of  pistol- 
shot.  So  I  could  only  watch  them  whirring  about, 
and  think  what  a  good  supper  one  or  two  of  them 
would  make. 

The  sunsets  are  always  magnificent  in  this  country. 
Equally  to  be  admired  are  the  western  mountains, 
when  seen  from  the  eastward  as  the  sun  drops  over 
them  and  leaves  the  clouds  upon  their  summits 
gilded  with  silver  and  gold,  and  the  eastern  ranges 
that  then  fade  into  such  a  lovely  blue  background. 

After  proceeding  twenty-five  miles,  I  came  up  with 
the  company  and  teams  of  my  friend  Jeff.  They 
were  all  camped  near  Burton's  ranch,  in  a  shady 
spot.  Their  fires  were  lighted,  and  half  a  dozen  men 
were  sitting  around  preparing  supper,  while  the  mules 
were  grazing  on  the  meadow,  the  long  range  of 
covered  wagons  resembling  a  military  camp.  I  had 
hoped  that  the  train  had  made  better  progress,  as  on 
board  of  one  of  the  wagons  was  my  sample-bag  of 
mineral  which  I  was  anxious  should  be  delivered  at 
Corinne  as  soon  as  I  arrived  there. 

"Well,  Captain,"  said  Jeff,  "I'll  tell  you  what  I'll 
do.  I  want  to  go  pretty  quick  myself.  I'll  let  the 


MR.    KING'S   FAMILY.  6l 

boys  drive  the  teams  along,  and  as  I  have  got  a  horse 
here  I  am  taking  down  to  Corinne,  I'll  borrow  a  sad- 
dle from  Burton,  and  then  we'll  pack  the  rocks  on 
our  two  horses,  and  go  right  along  to-morrow  morn- 
ing." 

It  may  readily  be  believed  that  the  proposal  was 
gratefully  accepted,  especially  as  it  would  give  me  the 
companionship  of  Jeff,  who  knew  every  ranch  and 
almost  every  sage-brush  along  the  road,  and  more- 
over is  one  of  the  most  good-natured  fellows  in  the 
world. 

"  Now,  if  you  like,"  he  said,  "  you  can  stop  and 
camp  with  us  ;  but,  as  it  looks  like  rain,  you  had 
better  go  on  to  King's,  a  mile  beyond,  where  they'll 
treat  you  first-rate.  King  used  to  be  a  Mormon,  but 
he  ain't  now.  Mrs.  King  is  a  nice  kind  o'  woman, 
and  Tilly,  her  sister,  is  a  pretty  gal.  Yes,  you'll 
like  things  there  under  cover,  considerable  better  than 
you  will  here  in  the  rain  ;  so  you  go  'long,  and  I'll 
fetch  the  bag  and  pack,  after  you  get  your  breakfast." 

Acting  on  this  good  advice,  I  pushed  on  a  mile 
further  to  King's,  and  found  him  and  his  family  what 
Jeff  had  represented  them  to  be.  Mr.  King  took 
care  of  Dick  and  gave  him  plenty  of  oats.  Mrs. 
King  and  Tilly  were  anxious  to  get  me  a  "  square 
meal ; "  but  as  I  preferred  bread  and  milk,  they  placed 
before  me  some  excellent  bread  and  fresh  butter,  and 


62  TILLY'S  MATRIMONIAL  IDEAS. 

a  large  bowl  of  cream.  That  was  surely  a  supper  for 
anybody. 

Mr.  King  is  an  Englishman.  I  believe  he  had  been 
a  Mormon  conscientiously  ;  certainly  it  was  not  for 
'the  sake  of  polygamy.  When  he  was  a  Mormon  he 
was  a  bachelor ;  and  now  that  he  is  one  no  longer,  he 
ought  to  be  contented  with  the  one  wife  that  he  has. 
Mrs.  King,  too,  was  a  Mormoness,  or  rather,  her 
father  was  a  Mormon.  But  he  and  his  daughter  are 
now  apostates.  Tilly  says  she  "don't  care  nothing 
about  it  noways.  I'd  just  as  lief  marry  a  Mormon  as 
any  other  feller ;  but  if  I  should,  and  he  should  open 
on  gitting  another  wife,  that  feller  or  I  would  have  to 
quit  the  ranch,  and  I  reckon  it  would  be  him  that 
would  go  !  " 

In  the  evening  we  had  a  game  of  high-low-jack — 
the  favorite  game  alike  of  Mormon  and  Gentile — Mr. 
King  and  Tilly  against  Mrs.  King  and  myself,  in 
which  our  side  was  whipped,  for  which  I  was  glad, 
as  it  made  Tilly  so  happy.  King's  house  was  like 
all  the  rest  in  this  country,  of  logs,  and  it  was  small 
at  that,  so  that  they  made  a  bed  for  me  on  the  floor 
of  the  principal  room.  But  it  was  very  comfortable, 
the  sheets  were  clean,  and  experience  had  taught  me 
to  sleep  anywhere. 

In  the  morning  I  arose  quite  early,  as  I  did  not 
wish  to  put  the  family  to  inconvenience.  It  had 


PACKING  AND   STARTING.  63 

•rained  very  -hard  in  the  night,  but  the  weather  had 
partially  cleared.  The  sun  was  climbing  up  through 
broken  clouds,  and  making  his  way  over  the  eastern 
range.  The  little  household  was  soon  busy,  the  table 
was  spread  with  a  faultlessly  clean  cloth,  genuine 
coffee  was  ground  in  the  mill,  hot  cakes  were  bak- 
ing in  the  oven,  and  veal  cutlets  were  snapping  in  the 
pan.  That  was  our  breakfast,  and  with  the  addition 
of  fresh  butter  and  cream,  it  was  "good  enough." 

By  and  by  Jeff  came  along  with  his  horse  and  the 
bag  of  mineral.  This  we  divided  in  two  parts,  each 
of  us  packing  about  twenty-five  pounds.  Although  I 
am  light  enough  myself,  my  cantinas,  containing 
clothes  and  pistol-holster,  and  my  blankets  and  over- 
coat, with  the  addition  of  twenty-five  pounds  of  dead 
weight,  were  as  much  as  one  horse  ought  to  carry. 
Jeff's  animal,  however,  had  more  on  his  back,  for  Jeff 
was  a  heavy  man.  It  was  nine  o'clock  before  we 
started,  the  teams  coming  along  at  the  same  time. 
Bidding  adieu  to  my  kind  hosts,  we  galloped  off  and 
soon  left  the  mules  far  behind. 

We  stopped  at  a  house  where  Jeff  had  some  busi- 
ness with  the  owner,  who,  like  King,  was  an  apos- 
tate. Mrs.  Collins,  the  lady  of  the  mansion,  wore 
no  shoes,  for  absence  of  which  she  apologized  on  the 
score  of  poverty.  "However,"  she  added,  "we're 
better  off  now  than  when  we  was  Mormons ;  we  have 


64  MRS.    COLLINS   ON   TITHING. 

got  clear  of  tithing,  and  that  gives  a  little  more 
money  to  us,  instead  of  to  old  Brig." 

There  was  much  of  truth  in  that  remark.  It  is  a 
truth  that  will  eventually  help  to  overthrow  a  great  deal 
of  Brigham  Young's  influence.  These  apostates  are  on 
the  confines  of  Gentile  territory.  They  are  apostates 
because  their  eyes  are  opened  by  their  neighbors. 
When  they  see  them  husbanding  all  their  labor  for 
themselves,  they  soon  become  averse  to  giving  one- 
tenth  of  theirs  nominally  to  the  Church  of  the  Latter- 
day  Saints,  but  really  to  enrich  its  leaders.  "  We  did 
not  mind  paying  tithes,"  said  Mrs.  Collins,  "  so  long 
as  we  was  poor,  and  didn't  have  nothin'  to  pay  on. 
But  when  we  come  to  have  twenty-five  cows,  I  says 
to  Collins,  says  I,  how  be  we  going  to  give  the 
Church  one-tenth  of  'em  ?  that's  two  cows  and  a  half." 
This  arithmetical  problem  apparently  caused  them  to 
abandon  the  faith.  If  the  question  had  not  been  pro- 
posed until  they  had  owned  thirty  cows,  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Collins  might  have  been  yet  in  the  fold. 

In  answer  to  the  inquiry  of  Mrs.  Collins  as  to 
where  we  proposed  to  stop  for  dinner,  I  said,  "  at 
Johnson's  ranch,"  where  we  passed  the  night  on  the 
upward  journey.  "Well,"  she  replied,  "you  won't 
find  nobody  to  home;  Miss  Johnson,  she's  quit." 
"  How  is  that?  "  I  asked.  "  Why,  she  was  kind  o' 
discontented  like  on  the  whole,  what  with  old  John- 


JOHNSON'S  RANCH  ABANDONED.  65 

son's  getting  full  o'  whiskey,  and  lickin'  her  " — (be  it 
remembered  Johnson  had  been  a  Mormon  missionary) 
— "when  he  was  'round,  and  when  he  wan't  'round  the 
Indians  gittin'  in  and  threatenin'  to  scalp  her  and  the 
children,  and  the  plaguyrattlesnakes  that  was  allers 
under  foot,  she  had  a  pretty  hard  time  ;  but  then  I 
suppose  she  might  have  got  along  if  there  had  been 
any  neighbors,  but  you  know  there  ain't  nobody 
within  twenty  miles  of  'em.  Anyway,  she  quit,  and 
so  Johnson  he  quit  too,  and  they've  moved  to  Frank- 
lin." "  You  are  quite  sure  of  that?"  I  inquired. 
"  Oh,  yes,"  she  answered,  "  I  know  it,  for  no 
longer  ago  'n  last  night  two  men  stopped  here ; 
they  was  going  to  put  up  there,  but-  they  found  the 
house  shot,  and  when  they  looked  into  the  winders 
they  see  three  or  four  rattlesnakes  kiled  up  on  the 
floor,  so  they  concluded  to  come  along  ! " 

In  two  hours'  time  the  heavy  clouds  that  had  been 
gathering  at  the  south  burst  upon  us.  As  there  was 
no  shelter,  we  had  only  to  put  on  our  overcoats,  wrap 
our  blankets  about  our  legs,  and  "to  do  as  they  do 
in  Spain."  But  it  did  not  last  long.  As  soon  as  we 
got  through  the  canon  where  the  squall  came  upon 
us,  the  weather  cleared  up,  the  dust  was  laid,  the 
air  freshened,  and  we  dispensed  with  our  overcoats 
and  jogged  merrily  on. 

Our  course  lay  along   the  western   bank  of  Bear 


66  THE  ROBBINS   FAMILY. 

River,  upon  the  "  bench  "  above  it,  and  the  view  was 
very  picturesque  of  herds  of  horses  and  cattle  feeding 
in  the  meadows  below.  In  one  of  the  droves  there 
were  hundreds  of  horses  of  all  ages  and  sizes.  They 
were  racing  about  for  their  own  pastime,  and  seemed 
to  be  enjoying  themselves  amazingly. 

Soon  after  noon  we  came  to  Robbins's  ranch. 
We  were  now  in  full  Mormondom,  although  scarcely 
on  the  confines  of  Utah. 

Mr.  Robbins  is  a  family  man,  and  a  very  good, 
hospitable  man  we  found  him.  He  and  his  boys,  of 
whom  there  was  quite  a  number,  took  care  of  our 
horses,  and  when  we  entered  the  house,  his  wives  and 
his  daughters,  of  whom  there  was  another  number, 
amply  provided  for  us.  Two  of  the  Mrs.  Robbins 
were  nursing  babies  of  about  the  same  age.  Each 
Mrs.  Robbins  was  dressed  exactly  like  the  other.  A 
third  Mrs.  Robbins,  who  did  not  appear  to  be  troub- 
led with  a  baby  just  then,  cooked  the  dinner.  Several 
young  Robbins,  of  ages  intermediate  between  baby- 
hood and  youth,  were  chirping  about,  roosting  on 
beds  inside  and  on  fences  without,  and  Robbins  him- 
self strutted  about  among  them  all,  with  the  air  of  a 
happy  husband  and  father. 

He  came  here  from  Texas  at  the  time  of  the  rebel- 
lion. He  is  a  well-educated  and  gentlemanly  man, 
and  seems  to  enjoy  being  a  Mormon.  He  keeps 


MR.    ROBBINS'S   HOSPITALITY.  6/ 

what  is  called  a  cattle  ranch,  and  has  been  very  suc- 
cessful in  raising  cattle  and  children.  His  cattle  lie 
down  peacefully  in  green  pastures  beside  the  still 
waters,  and  his  family  lie  down  peacefully  all  over  the 
house  on  beds  and  on  the  floor.  To  all  appearance, 
Robbins,  his  wives,  his  children,  and  his  cattle,  are  all 
happy.  We  had  a  good  dinner,  clean  and  well 
served.  There  was  little  of  meat,  in  which  Mormons 
do  not  much  indulge,  but  there  was  an  abundance  of 
milk,  cream,  butter,  eggs,  and  vegetables,  on  which 
they  mostly  live,  and  live  \\nell.  Nothing  could  in- 
duce Mr.  Robbins  to  accept  any  remuneration,  but 
if  I  return,  I  shall  remember  the  children,  supposing 
my  cantinas  to  hold  enough  to  carry  each  a  stick  of 
candy ! 

Mounting  our  horses  again,  we  went  on  in  the  cool 
afternoon.  As  we  rode  along,  Jeff  enlivened  the  jour- 
ney by  his  inexhaustible  stories  of  personal  adven- 
ture and  border  life. 

"  I  never  tried  to  get  married  but  once,"  he  said, 
"  and  that  was  to  a  Mormon  gal  up  here  to  Logan. 
She  was  jest  about  the  slickest  little  creetur  ever  you 
see.  Fust  time  I  come  acrost  her  was  where  her  folks 
and  I  camped  out  one  night  right  about  here.  I 
follered  on  her  trail  pretty  close  for  six  months,  and 
thought  I  was  going  to  trap  her,  sure.  She  wanted 
me  to  be  a  Mormon.  I  wan't  partic'ler  about  that, 


68  JEFF'S  COURTSHIP. 

but  I  didn't  like  to  jine  any  cliurch.  I  never  did  be- 
long to  a  church  or  an  engine  company  in  the  States. 
However,  I  told  her  finally,  as  she  crowded  me,  that 
I'd  swaller  Brigham,  Tabernacle,  and  all,  for  love  of 
her.  So  we  got  things  about  fixed,  and  if  she  hadn't 
gone  too  fur  I  might  have  been  a  bishop  by  this 
time. 

"  But  she  had  an  old-maid  sister,  and  she  wanted 
me  to  marry  that  Susan  Jane  too — that  durned,  dried- 
up,  old  Susan  Jane  !  '  Emmy,'  says  I,  '  I  can't  and 
I  won't !  '  So  I  sot  my  foot  down,  and  there's  where 
we  split.  You  see  the  old  man  was  kind  o'  sickly, 
and  jest  as  sure  as  I'd  agreed  to  take  Susan  Jane, 
when  he  died  I  would  have  had  to  marry  the  old 
woman  too  !  I  hain't  hunted  after  a  wife  sence.  I've 
seen  some  tol'ble  good-lookin'  gals  down  to  Salt 
Lake,  and  a  good  many  likely  squaws  on  the  Reserva- 
tion ;  but  the  Salt  Lake  gals  are  too  dressy,  and  the 
squaws  ain't  dressy  enough.  I  shan't  see  nobody 
agin  like  Emmy.  I'd  have  been  a  Mormon  for  her, 
but  not  so  much  of  a  one  as  she  wanted  me  to  be. 

"Say  what  they  will  about  the  Mormon  gals,  I'd 
rather  have  one  of  ?em  than  a  Gentile.  They  ain't 
thoroughbreds,  I  know ;  but,  as  a  general  thing, 
they  are  honest,  kind,  and  true.  They  are  brought 
up  to  hard  work,  and  they  are  willing  to  do  their  share 
on  the  road.  Take  some  teams  and  harness  a  horse 


JEFF'S  PREFERENCE  FOR  MORMON  "GALS."    69 

up  with  a  mare,  the  mare'll  kick  up  her  heels  and 
buck,  or  else  she'll  lay  back  and  let  the  horse  do  all 
the  work.  That's  about  the  way  with  gals  in  the  States. 
They're  awful  pretty  there,  and  they  put  a  nice  har- 
ness on  'em,  but  that's  no  account.  They  ain't  good 
for  nothin'  on  a  drag.  Agin,  you  put  some  mares  in 
and  they'll  take  their  share  of  the  draught  right  along. 
These  Mormon  gals  do  that.  They've  read  the  first 
chapter  of  Adam  " — (Jeff  meant  Genesis,  and  was  in 
error  also  about  the  chapter) — "  and  they  know  what 
they  was  made  for.  Gals  in  the  States  think  they  was 
made  for  playthings,  or  something  worse.  They  are 
expensive  luxuries,  anyway. 

"  There,  you  don't  ask  the  old  woman  if  the  gal  can 
help  support  you  ;  the  old  man  asks  you  if  you  can 
support  his  darter.  So  if  a  feller  falls  in  love  with  a 
gal  he's  got  to  buy  her,  and  what's  she  good  for  to 
him  after  he  gits  her  ?  What  do  you  call  that  sort  of 
business  but  jest  what  they  pitch  into  the  Mormons 
for?  Only  it's  worse,  though  'tis  only  retail,  while 
theirs  is  wholesale.  I  s'pose  'tis  kind  o'  degradin' 
the  way  they  herd  women  as  they  do  out  here,  but 
it  looks  to  me  degradin'  for  men  to  jest  worship  petti- 
coats the  way  they  do  in  the  States." 

I  had  noticed  that  the  back  of  Jeff's  head  was 
marked  by  a  peculiar  up-and-down  bald  spot,  while 
the  rest  of  his  skull  was  covered  by  a  thick  crop  of 


70  HOW  JEFF   WAS   SCALPED. 

red,  bushy  hair.  Emboldened  by  a  companionship 
that  had  assumed  so  much  familiarity,  I  asked  him 
how  this  singular  want  of  covering  was  to  be  ac- 
counted for. 

"  Why,  that,"  he  replied,  "  is  where  I  was  scalped 
by  a  bar ;  and  that  ain't  all,  he  scalped  me  half-way 
down  my  back,  as  I'll  show  you  to-night.  It  was — 
le'  me  see — six  years  ago  last  fall.  I  was  out  huntin' 
deer  away  to  the  eastward  of  Fort  Bridger. 

"  I  left  camp  early  one  mornin'  and  tramped  pretty 
much  all  day  without  seein'  any  game,  when  late  in 
the  arternoon  I  see  a  big  grizzly  down  in  a  holler 
close  by.  I  drawed  on  him  right  off,  and  as  I  was  so 
close  to,  I  couldn't  miss  him  ;  so  he  dropped  like  a 
log.  I  was  the  durndest  fool  I  ever  was  in  my  life, 
for  I  walked  right  up  to  him  without  waitin'  a  minute. 
But  that  bar  wan't  dead.  Jest  as  soon  as  I  touched 
htm  he  riz  right  up  on  his  hind  legs,  and,  before  I 
could  go  for  a  tree,  he  put  his  paw  on  the  top  of  my 
head  and  took  har,  skin,  and  all  off  pretty  near  clean 
down  to  the  bone  !  I  had  my  knife  in  my  hand,  for  I 
had  drawed  it  as  I  went  up  to  him,  and  I  jest  had  life 
enough  left  in  me  to  turn  round  and  jab  it  into  him. 
I  got  it  straight  into  his  heart,  and  what  with  the  shot 
and  this  lick  he  was  dead  then,  sure. 

"  But  the  worst  of  it  was,  I  was  most  dead  too.  I 
got  some  mud  and  plastered  over  my  head  and  back, 


A   GERMAN'S   BEAR-STORY.  7 1 

and  laid  down  alongside  of  that  bar  and  stayed  there 
all  night  and  the  next  day.  Then  I  got  up  and 
started  for  camp  ;  but  the  boys  thought  I  had  gone 
along  ahead,  and  they'd  broke  camp  and  left.  So  I 
had  nothin'  to  do  but  to  tramp  all  the  way  to  the  Post, 
forty  miles  or  more,  where  I  found  the  doctor  who 
fixed  me  up  as  well  as  he  could.  I  fetched  the  piece 
of  scalp  the  bar  took  off  along  with  me,  but  the 
doctor  said  it  had  got  dried  up,  so  it  wan't  no  good 
to  put  on  agin." 

This  was  a  thrilling  bear-story ;  but  I  listened  to 
one  a  few  weeks  before  from  a  German  at  Lake  Tahoe 
that  promised  a  more  tragic  denouement.  "  It  was 
yoost  a  year  ago  last  vinter,"  said  Hans,  "  ven  I  vas 
comin'  home  from  cuttin'  wood  mit  mine  axe  on  one 
sholer  and  mine  rifle  on  the  oder.  I  vasn't  thinkin'  of 
notin'  but  mine  supper,  ven  yoost  as  I  vas  comin' 
down  a  hill  vere  dere  vas  big  hole  in  the  side,  I  sees 
big  grizzly  richt  front  of  the  hole.  I  never  vas  so 
froyht  !  Mine  knees  vas  shake  and  mine  hair  vas 
stand  straight.  I  vas  tremble  all  over.  But  I  says  to 
mineself,  'Hans,'  says  I,  'that  bear  kill  you  or  you 
kill  the  bear.'  I  know  if  I  miss  him  I  coont  run  for 
tree,  because  there  wunt  no  tree  there.  So  I  steadied 
mineself  little,  and  then  I  vant  to  make  sure.  So  I 
crawls  up  to  get  round  sage-brush  so  notings  come  in 
the  vay.  I  takes  up  mine  rifle,  and  yoost  as  I  vas 


72      INDIAN   BATTLE — DEATH   OF   GUS   HELLISH. 

goin'  to  fire,  I  looks  again,  and — it  vas  tarn  log  !  " 
Evidently  it  was  no  log  that  scalped  Jeff". 

Our  road  had  been  for  the  first  part  of  the  afternoon 
mostly  on  level  ground,  but  we  now  reached  a  district 
of  broken  ridges.  Passing  over  one  of  these  eleva- 
tions, my  companion  pointed  out  on  our  left  a  narrow 
valley,  through  which  ran  a  sluggish  stream  among 
the  thick  willow-brush. 

"That  is  a  place,"  said  he,  "  I  shall  never  forget; 
for  there  it  was  we  fit  the  Injuns  in  the  biggest  kind 
of  a  fight.  They  ambushed  us  in  them  willows. 
Every  shot  of  them  told  on  some  of  us,  and  we 
couldn't  git  at  'em,  they  was  stowed  away  so  close  in 
the  brush.  We  lost  twenty  men,  but  we  .finally 
drove  'em.  I  tell  you  'twas  worse  than  fighting  with 
bars  ! 

11  Jest  as  the  scrimmage  was  about  over,  poor  Gus 
Hellish  was  shot  down  close  by  me.  I  knowed  Gus 
well.  We'd  been  pardners  in  Californy.  He  was  one 
of  the  best  fellers  I  ever  knowed,  and  we  wus  always 
gettin'  sells  on  one  another.  But  Gus  got  the  heavi- 
est thing  on  me  when  he  died  ! 

"  As  soon  as  he  was  shot,  I  see  he  was  a  goner.  I 
helped  him  up  on  the  bank,  and  eased  him  off  all  I 
could,  sayin'  over  all  the  Bible  I  knowed,  and  pro- 
misin'  to  give  his  watch  and  his  gun  to  his  folks. 
But  Gus  wanted  me  to  agree  to  send  him  to  Frisco, 


THE  TRICK  PLAYED   BY   GUS.  73 

where  his  folks  lived.  So  I  promised,  and  he  died 
happy. 

"Well,  I  buried  him  on  the  spot  temporary.  Three 
years  after,  when  I  cal'lated  he  was  about  eat  up,  I 
went  for  his  bones.  Now  what  do  you  think  Gus  had 
been  and  gone  and  done  ?  Why,  as  he  was  buried  in 
alkali,  he'd  gone  and  turned  himself  into  solid  stone, 
and  then  he  expected  me  to  pay  freight  on  him  all  the 
way  to  Frisco  !  I  did  it,  though,  but  that  was  the  last 
load  Gus  ever  got  on  me  ! "  When  Jeff  had  concluded 
this  touching  reminiscence  of  his  departed  friend,  he 
stopped  his  horse  and  took  a  drink  to  his  memory. 

At  five  o'clock  we  reached  the  little  settlement  of 
Weston,  having,  like  all  the  others,  its  presiding 
bishop.  Jeff  had  some  accounts  to  settle  with  Bishop 
Moone.  This  prelate  has  only  one  wife,  and  conse- 
quently his  family  is  not  so  large  as  that  of  Mr.  Rob- 
bins.  A  pretty  girl  of  sixteen  gracefully  offered  us 
goblets  of  cream,  and  then  we  moved  along. 

Ten  miles  beyond  was  the  village  of  Clarkson, 
where  Jeff  proposed  to  spend  the  night,  as  by  the 
time  we  should  arrive  there  our  horses  would  have 
accomplished  more  than  fifty  miles  on  that  day  ;  and 
this,  considering  their  heavy  pack,  would  be  enough 
for  them.  As  for  ourselves,  the  air  was  so  exhilara- 
ting that  we  could  easily  have  ridden  on  to  Corinne, 
thirty-five  miles  farther. 


74  BISHOP  SMITH  AND   HIS  WIVES. 

Just  before  arriving  at  Clarkson  we  passed  an  ox- 
wagon.  "  How  are  you,  Bishop?  "  exclaimed  Jeff  to 
the  man  driving  the  team  ;  "  we  are  going  to  quarter 
on  you  to-night."  "  All  right,  Jeff,"  said  the  Bishop, 
"  ride  on,  and  tell  my  folks  to  get  supper,  and  not 
wait  for  me."  We  arrived  at  Clarkson  at  seven 
o'clock.  One  Mrs.  Smith  and  the  other  Mrs.  Smith 
received  us  very  pleasantly,  and  set  about  the  prepa- 
ration ordered  by  the  head  that  belongs  to  them  both. 

The  Bishop  arrived  in  time  to  say  grace  over  some 
good  milk,  bread,  butter,  and  stewed  gooseberries, 
all  of  which  were  very  appetizing.  Our  horses  were 
turned  out  in  the  corral  with  plenty  of  oats  and  hay 
before  them,  and  in  the  evening  I  played  on  a  tin 
whistle  and  told  stones  to  the  young  Mormon  Smiths. 
A  "brother"  came  in  and  informed  the  Bishop  that 
there  was  to  be  "  a  special  meeting  of  the  greatest 
importance  ;  "  so  he  was  obliged  to  bid  us  good-night. 

As  we  proposed  to  leave  at  an  early  hour,  I  wished 
to  settle  our  little  bill,  but  neither  the  Bishop  nor  the 
Bishopesses  would  hear  of  it.  They  made  us  a  bed 
on  the  floor,  into  which  Jeff  and  I  turned  together, 
and  then  all  was  still  in  the  Episcopal  domain  for  the 
night,  with  the  exception  of  occasional  squalls  from 
different  babies  in  different  corners  of  the  log-cabin. 

Bright  and  early  we  arose  from  our  literally  down 
bed  of  straw,  caught  our  horses,  saddled  and  packed, 


BISHOP   LITTLEWOOD   AND   FAMILY.  75 

and  were  off  and  away  before  five  o'clock.  We 
passed  through  another  settlement  an  hour  after- 
wards. The  Bishop  of  that  diocese  was  just  coming 
out,  economizing  time  by  buttoning  his  suspenders 
on  his  way  to  his  daily  labor. 

"That  Bishop  Littlewood,"  said  Jeff,  "has  got 
four  wives,  and  as  many  children  as  you  see  chickens 
running  'round  here  ;  how  he  packs  them  all  in  that 
house" — it  was  a  small,  one-story  log-cabin — "is 
what  I  can't  understand  myself.  I  would  try  to  go 
in  and  see  how  he  fixes  things  some  time,  if  I 
thought  there  was  room  to  get  inside  the  door 
amongst  the  crowd." 

After  passing  this  little  village,  the  Bear  River 
takes  a  sudden  turn  from  Cache  Valley  to  the  right, 
and  makes  its  way  through  a  deep  canon,  the  sides  of 
which  are  so  precipitous  and  rocky  that  there  is  no 
room  for  a  road  by  the  border  of  the  stream.  I  was 
especially  sorry  for  this,  as  we  were  obliged  to  make 
a  detour,  and  that  prevented  us  from  seeing  the  cata- 
ract we  could  hear  leaping  and  roaring  through  the 
chasm. 

Below  the  cascade  is  an  immense  alkaline  plain  of 
more  than  two  hundred  thousand  acres.  It  is  now 
valueless,  for  no  one  cares  to  pre-empt  a  homestead  or 
to  buy  of  the  government  one  hundred  and  sixty 
acres  of  such  land,  even  at  the  price  of  one  dollar 


76  PLAN   FOR   IRRIGATION. 

and  a  quarter  per  acre — all  that  one  individual  can 
purchase.  But  if  the  government  would  sell  the 
whole  to  a  company,  one  would  be  speedily  organized 
to  take  it ;  and  diverting  Bear  River  from  its  channel 
above  the  falls,  this  great  desert  could  all  be  irrigated, 
and  would  speedily  increase  fifty  times  in  value  by 
being  able  to  produce  forty  or  fifty  bushels  of  wheat 
to  the  acre.  The  whole  expense  attending  such  an 
operation  has  been  estimated  to  be  less  than  one  hun- 
dred thousand  dollars.  It  is  a  magnificent  scheme, 
and  to  accomplish  it  there  is  only  required  a  judicious 
outlay  of  money  at  Washington,  "  where  it  will  do 
the  most  good." 

As  we  descended  into  the  valley  through  which  the 
river  glides  down  to  Corinne  on  its  course  into 
Great  Salt  Lake,  the  sun  threw  our  long  shadows 
over  the  plain,  making  us  like  very  important  coming 
events.  It  now  began  to  grow  quite  warm,  even 
before  we  reached  the  Montana  stage-station  at  seven 
o'clock  for  breakfast.  This  is  a  small  frame  building 
belonging  to  the  company,  and  is  the  first  house  not 
built  of  logs  that  I  had  seen  for  a  long  time. 

After  feeding  ourselves  and  our  animals,  we  gal- 
loped on  rapidly  in  order  to  arrive  before  the  intense 
heat  of  the  day  should  overpower  us,  and  soon  saw 
the  City  of  Corinne  starting  up  on  the  plain,  and  re- 
sembling Cuxhaven  as  it  is  made  from  the  North  Sea. 


ARRIVAL  AT   CORINNE.  77 

It  was  nearly  ten  o'clock  when  we  reached  the  town 
and  rode  at  once  to  the  photograph  saloon,  where  the 
artist  speedily  made  a  picture  of  Jeff  and  myself  as 
we  arrived  from  Cariboo.  This  performance  having 
been  accomplished,  we  rode  over  to  the  "  Bear  River 
Hotel/'  sent  our  horses  out  into  the  herd,  washed, 
dressed,  shaved,  dined,  and  rested  for  the  remainder 
of  the  day. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

The  City  of  Corinne. — Its  Commercial  Importance. — Its  R&le  as  a 
Mission  Settlement.  —  Unsuccessful  Search  for  Religious  Instruc- 
tion.— Murder  of  Jeff  Davis. — A  Mormon  Town  Contrasted  with 
Corinne. — Ride  to  Ogden  and  Salt  Lake, — Pleasant  Breakfast  and 
Garden.— Story  of  an  Early  Settler. —  The  Union  Pacific  as  a 
Missionary. 

THE  city  of  Corinne  is  a  village  of  some  three 
hundred  and  fifty  men — perhaps  one  thousand 
people,  including  women  and  children.  It  was  founded 
from  motives  partly  mercenary,  partly  religious  and 
moral.  It  is  twenty-four  miles  west  of  Ogden,  the 
iunction  of  the  Central  and  Union  Pacific  Railroads, 
and  is  the  nearest  available  point  to  Montana. 

That  great  mining  district  receives  its  principal 
supplies  from  Corinne,  from  whence  also  there  is  daily 
stage  communication  over  a  route  of  five  hundred 
miles  through  sage-brush  deserts,  steep  canons,  and 
over  bare  mountains.  It  is  a  pleasant  drive  for  those 
who  like  these  things  seasoned  with  plenty  of  dust. 
The  freighting  business  is  very  brisk. 

On  the  latter  part  of  our  route  touching  upon  the 
Montana  trail,  we  met  and  passed  dozens  of  mule 


ORIGIN    OF    CORINNE.  79 

caravans  going  and  returning.  This  trade,  now  being 
transferred  to  the  Utah  Northern  Railroad,  will  con- 
tinue until  the  completion  of  the  Northern  Pacific 
Railroad.  When,  if  ever,  that  is  accomplished,  the 
people  of  Montana  will  dispense  with  Corinne,  and 
its  value  as  a  trading  mart  will  fall  to  zero. 

Saints  combined  with  sinners  in  the  endeavor  to 
build  up  Corinne — not  "Latter-Day  Saints,"  but  all 
other  kinds  of  saints  who  regard  Mormonism  as  the 
abomination  of  desolation,  Anti-Christ,  the  scarlet 
woman,  and  the  beast  of  the  Apocalypse. 

They  meant  to  plant  a  Christian  landmark  in  its 
midst  ;  to  set  up  a  bright  and  shining  light  that 
should  throw  its  pure  rays  far  and  wide  to  scatter  the 
darkness  in  which  the  "  twin  relic  of  barbarism  "  had 
shrouded  the  land.  For  this  purpose  churches  and 
grog-shops  were  to  act  in  harmony.  Therefore  there 
had  been  opened  three  of  the  former  and  twenty  of 
the  latter.  The  churches  are  supported  by  home  mis- 
sionary societies  ;  the  grog-shops  are  maintained  by 
the  voluntary  system. 

It  was  a  sultry  Sunday  morning,  and,  after  having 
slept  and  breakfasted  at  the  shanty  styled  the  "  Bear 
River  Hotel,"  I  strayed  about  the  town.  My  friend 
Jeff  had  introduced  me  to  most  of  the  three  hundred 
and  fifty  resident  gentlemen,  and  so  I  received  nearly 
that  number  of  invitations  to  take  a  drink,  all  of 


80  GOING   TO   CHURCH. 

which  were  respectfully  declined  on  the  temperance 
stand-point.  That  is  the  only  safe  support  to  fall  back 
upon  with  these  hospitable  gentlemen. 

It  was  an  unusually  lively  day.  A  great  many 
teams  happened  to  be  in  town,  and  the  drivers  and 
traders  made  the  holiday  uproarious.  The  order  of 
exercises  alternated  with  swearing  and  drinking  all 
day  long,  and  the  evening  must  have  been  something 
fearful,  for  then  the  dance-houses  would  be  in  active 
operation. 

Soon  after  eleven  o'clock  I  made  my  way  to  the 
nearest  church.  I  was  told  that  it  was  Presbyterian. 
On  approaching  I  heard  the  music  of  a  psalm-tune, 
from  which  I  inferred  that  the  services  had  already 
commenced.  On  entering,  however,  I  found  the 
solitary  musician  seated  at  one  of  those  sewing- 
machine  "  melodeons,"  and  grinding  out  the  Mis- 
sionary Hymn. 

He  stopped  on  noticing  the  unexpected  addition 
to  the  congregation,  and  entered  into  conversation. 
"There  would  be  no  meeting  to-day."  "In  fact," 
he  added,  "  we  don't  have  any  stated  preaching  ;  we 
have  to  get  along  as  well  as  we  can  with  what  we 
pick  up."  In  answer  to  further  inquiries,  he  said 
that  there  were  three  societies,  which  he  thus  enu-* 
merated  on  the  rising  scale:  "The  Episcopal,  they 
have  one  member  to  their  church ;  the  Methodist, 


SECTIONAL    DIFFICULTIES.  8l 

they  have  two  ;  but  we  have  eleven  communicants." 
There  was  no  little  pride  in  the  emphasis  given  to  the 
preponderance  of  Presbyterianism. 

I  ventured  to  make  two  suggestions  for  the  better 
maintenance  of  religious  worship.  One  was  that  the 
fourteen  church-members  should  club  together,  and, 
with  the  assistance  of  moral  sinners  outside  the  pale 
of  the  church  and  the  different  home-missionary 
societies,  support  one  good  minister  in  one  meeting- 
house, and  rent  out  the  other  two  to  help  pay  ex- 
penses. "  Why  not?  " 

"That  wouldn't  do,"  he  said  ;  "  we  couldn't  agree 
on  doctrine  nor  form."  "Well,  then,"  I  proposed, 
"  get  some  minister  more  liberal  than  you  are,  who 
for  the  sake  of  spreading  the  gospel  would  be  willing 
to  be  like  St.  Paul,  '  all  things  to  all  men  ' — an  Epis- 
copalian one  Sunday,  a  Methodist  the  next,  and  a 
Presbyterian  on  a  third.  How  would  that  do?" 
"Oh,  pshaw!"  replied  the  organist,  "such  a  fellow 
would  be  a hypocrite." 

So  I  shook  off  the  dust  from  my  shoes,  and  would 
gladly  have  shaken  off  the  dust  from  my  clothes,  and 
left  Corinne.  I  bade  a  warm  adieu  to  my  friend  Jeff, 
whose  services  as  a  guide  up  through  Montana  to 
-the  Yellowstone  Park  I  had  partially  engaged  for  the 
next  season,  when,  with  tent-equipages,  mules,  and 
horses,  I  propose,  with  such  ladies  and  gentlemen 

4* 


82  BRIGHAM   CITY. 

as  fancy  the  enjoyments  of  fine  air,  mountain  scen- 
ery, fishing,  shooting,  and  camping  out,  to  make  a 
summer  excursion.* 

This  Sunday  was  a  blazing  hot  day  at  Corinne,  in 
very  unpleasant  contrast  to  the  weather  experienced 
at  Soda  Springs  and  Cariboo.  I  waited  till  four  of 
the  afternoon,  in  the  vain  hope  that  the  mercury 
would  fall  below  ninety  degrees,  and  then  started  on 
my  pony  for  Ogden,  a  distance  of  thirty  miles  by  the 
travelled  road.  For  most  of  the  route  this  lies  north 
of  the  railway  under  the  base  of  the  mountains,  and 
passes  through  several  thriving  Mormon  settlements. 
The  chief  one  is  Brigham  City,  five  miles  east  of 
Corinne.  In  all  these  towns  the  streets  are  wide,  and 
shaded  by  lime  or  locust  trees,  streams  of  water 
from  the  public  irrigating  ditch  running  by  the  side- 
walks on  each  side.  All  the  house-lots,  like  those  of 
Salt  Lake  City,  are  supposed  to  contain  one  and  a 

*  Since  writing  this,  I  have  received  the  following  from  Cariboo  : 
"Your  friend,  Jeff  Davis,  was  murdered  here  on  Thursday,  the  iSth 
instant,  by  Jim  Waters.  We  shall  hang  Jim,  of  course,  for  it  was  a 
clean,  clear  case  of  murder.  We  are  only  waiting  for  Perkins  to  get 
his  liquor-bill  settled  up  first.  Jeff  was  sitting  in  the  saloon,  with  his 
feet  cocked  up  on  a  chair ;  Waters  came  in,  and  without  a  word  walked 
up  and  stabbed  him  twice  near  the  heart.  Jeff  died  in  about  seven 
hours,  and  has  been  decently  buried  at  Soda  Springs.  I  was  not  present 
when  the  unpleasantness  occurred,  or  there  might  have  been  further 
interesting  particulars."  Alas,  poor  Jeff! 


A  MORMON  SUNDAY.  83 

quarter  acres  of  land  each,  which  is  invariably  taste- 
fully laid  out  as  a  garden  ;  thus,  though  the  houses  are 
often  poor  and  only  of  logs,  they  have  an  air  of  comfort 
and  beauty  which  is  lacking  in  many  more  pretending 
edifices. 

In  strange  contrast  to  Corinne,  here  reigned  the 
peaceful  quiet  of  the  Sabbath  day.  Among  its  two 
thousand  inhabitants  there  is  not  one  grog-shop  or 
disreputable  house.  Alas,  how  little  has  been  the  in- 
fluence of  the  missionary  city  of  Corinne  on  the  be- 
nighted people  of  Brigham  City  ! 

They  were  on  their  way  to  worship  in  their  large 
and  very  pretty  "  temple,"  most  of  them  on  foot,  but 
many  coming  from  a  distance  in  wagons — all  decently 
but  not  luxuriously  dressed,  the  faces  of  the  men  sun- 
burnt, but  not  whiskey-fired,  and  those  of  the  women 
certainly  wearing  no  appearance  of  slavery  or  discon- 
tent. Many  of  the  young  girls  and  children  were 
uncommonly  pretty.  Had  I  not  been  pressed  for 
time,  and  had  not  my  travelling  costume  been  so  out 
of  place  among  the  well-dressed  crowd,  I  should  cer- 
tainly have  stopped  to  worship  with  them,  and  should 
doubtless  have  been  as  much  edified  as  I  was  in 
conversing  with  the  organist  in  the  conventicle  at 
Corinne. 

I  rode  on,  the  sun  pouring  downwards  and  up- 
wards too,  with  remorseless  fierceness.  There  was 


84  ELDER   CANNON. 

not  a  breath  of  air,  and  the  reflection  from  the  glassy 
surface  of  the  Salt  Lake  on  my  right  and  from  the 
heated  rocks  of  the  mountains  on  my  left,  made  the 
next  hour  almost  insupportable  for  rider  and  horse. 

Soon  after  six  the  air  cooled  somewhat,  and  a 
breeze  from  the  south  came  over  the  waters  of  the 
lake,  and  brought  a  salty  smell  like  the  sea-breeze  of 
the  ocean. 

Elder  Geo.  Q.  Cannon,  now  the  delegate  to  Wash- 
ington, and  a  man  of  sterling  worth  and  talent,  had 
been  preaching  at  Ogden,  and  I  met  several  wagon- 
loads  of  men,  women,  and  children  on  their  return.  I 
stopped  at  the  door  of  a  house  just  as  the  owner  ar- 
rived. He  was  quite  delighted  with  the  Elder's  ser- 
mon, and  was  generally  jubilant  on  the  subject  of  re- 
ligion, which  he  exemplified  by  urging  me  to  spend 
the  night,  and  on  my  declining  to  do  so,  in  presenting 
me  with  a  tumbler  of  rich  cream,  in  which  offer  there 
was  a  more  acceptable  act  of  Christianity  than  in  a 
simple  "  cup  of  cold  water." 

Eight  miles  west  of  Ogden  are  some  hot  salt 
springs,  coming  from  a  rock  near  the  road,  and  form- 
ing quite  a  large  basin  of  water,  Dick,  the  pony, 
here  amused  me  by  his  astonishment.  The  little 
rascal  was  always  as  "dry"  as  a  Corinne  Christian., 
and  always  making  excuses  to  stop  and  take  a  drink. 
When  he  came  in  sight  of  this  clear-looking  pool  he 


GENTILE   AND   MORMON   OGDEN.  85 

went  for  it  incontinently,  and  when  his  forelegs  were 
immersed  to  the  knees  by  the  jump  which  he  made 
into  the  hot  water,  he  gave  a  sudden  squeal  of  pain, 
and  executed  a  pirouette  which  would  have  unseated 
me  if  I  had  not  anticipated  it.  It  was  curious  to 
notice  how  daintily  he  approached  the  next  stream 
crossing  the  road. 

The  railroad-traveller  gets  a  very  wrong  impression 
of  Ogden.  He  sees  nothing  but  the  Gentile  part  of 
the  town,  the  stations  of  the  U.  P.  and  C.  P.  Rail- 
roads, their  offices  and  engine-houses,  and  a  dozen  or 
two  shanties  occupied  as  restaurants,  grog-shops,  and 
gambling-houses.  The  "  city"  is  a  mile  above,  under 
the  base  of  the  range  of  mountains,  watered,  as  all  the 
country  is  watered  between  it  and  Corinne,  by  moun- 
tain streams  diverted  from  their  courses  by  canals. 
I  have  already  described  Salt  Lake  City  and  Brigham 
City ;  all  Mormon  towns  are  alike  excepting  in  size, 
and  of  course  in  the  style  of  architecture,  which  varies 
according  to  the  time  of  settlement ;  the  more  remote 
consisting  exclusively  of  log-cabins.  Salt  Lake  City, 
and  those  in  .its  neighborhood,  have  substantial  frame 
and  brick  buildings. 

Ogden  is  a  pretty  and  quiet  town,  somewhat  larger 
than  Brigham  City.  It  was  late  when  I  arrived  and 
found  comfortable  quarters  at  the  Ogden  Hotel. 

At  five  o'clock   punctually,  on   Monday  morning, 


86  OUT-OF-DOOR   SLEEPING. 

little  Dick  stood  saddled  at  the  door  of  the  hotel,  and 
we  proceeded  on  our  journey  to  Salt  Lake  City.  In 
this  country  people  sleep  out  of  doors  when  they  can, 
within  their  houses  if  they  must.  As  I  passed 
through  the  village,  I  noticed  that  all  the  piazzas  and 
stoops  had  their  sleeping  occupants,  and  in  some 
cases  they  lay  about  on  the  ground.  It  is  fortunate 
that  the  climate  thus  allows  a  part  of  the  inconve- 
nience of  a  large  family  to  be  overcome. 

The  people  were  soon  astir  and  the  cows  were 
being  driven  from  their  corrals  after  milking.  In  the 
daytime  they  are  generally  herded,  the  people  of  each 
settlement  contributing  to  pay  a  man  to  collect  them 
all,  drive  them  to  the  plains  outside,  and  return  them 
at  evening.  The  animals  become  so  accustomed  to 
their  daily  routine  that  on  the  sound  of  the  horn  they 
form  into  line,  and  go  out  and  come  home  with  very 
little  trouble  to  the  herdsman. 

A  young  milkmaid  filled  my  -tin  cup  with  fresh 
morning  milk,  a  better  "  eye-opener  "  than  any  tonic 
bitters,  and  then  I  went  on  my  way  to  the  outskirts 
of  the  settlement.  There  I  was  led  astray  by  the 
ignorance  of  a  stupid  son  of  one  father  and  many 
mothers,  who  told  me  to  keep  to  the  right  when  out 
on  the  prairie.  I  did  so,  and  after  plodding  along 
through  the  sage-brush  for  two  or  three  miles,  found 
that  the  trail  led  to  the  borders  of  the  lake.  So,  re- 


BREAKFAST  AT   MR.    ENHART'S.  8/ 

tracing  my  steps,  I  got  back  to  the  wagon-road  with 
no  pleasant  feelings  towards  the  youngster  who  had 
lengthened  my  journey  at  least  five  miles  on  this  hot 
day. 

Sixteen  miles  from  Ogden  is  the  little  village  of 
Kaysville.  Twenty-one  miles  it  was  for  Dick  and  me. 
Selecting  the  most  attractive  house,  near  which  a 
farmer  with  six  or  eight  stalwart  sons  was  threshing 
out  his  wheat,  I  approached  and  asked  if  my  horse 
could  be  fed. 

"  Of  course  he  can,"  said  Mr.  Enhart,  "  and  don't 
you  want  something  to  eat,  too  ?  "  Most  certainly  he 
surmised  the  truth.  So  one  of  the  young  men  took 
charge  of  Dick,  and  I  walked  into  the  house,  which 
more  resembled  a  Hollander's  cottage  for  scrupulous 
cleanliness  than  anything  I  ever  saw  in  our  country. 

There  were  two  matrons,  evidently  sisters,  and  two 
younger  ladies,  all  about  their  household  duties. 
There  were  children  belonging  to  them  collectively, 
besides  the  great  lads  outside,  girls  of  sixteen  to 
twenty  years  and  young  ones  of  a  more  tender  age, 
and  babies  of  scarcely  any  age  at  all.  A  bountiful 
repast  of  bread  and  butter,  milk  and  honey,  was 
spread  before  me,  and  while  I  sat  at  the  table  two 
gentle  young  Mormonesses  kept  the  flies  away,  grace- 
fully moving  green  switches  over  my  head.  What 
captivating  addenda  to  a  breakfast ! 


88  FAMILY  PECULIARITIES. 

I  have  noticed  these  peculiarities  in  all  Mormon 
families  :  the  young  people  never  speak  unless  spoken 
to,  in  presence  of  their  elders,  and  when  address- 
ing one  wife,  I  always  got  replies  from  all,  or  as 
many  of  them  as  were  present.  And  they  all,  too, 
seemed  to  possess  the  faculty  of  propounding  to  me  the 
same  question  at  the  same  time.  I  spoke  in  terms  of 
admiration  of  the  house  and  garden.  "  Yes,"  they  all 
replied,  "  Mr.  Enhart  has  a  nice  place."  They 
seemed  to  think  all  things,  including  themselves, 
were  Mr.  Enhart's  ;  they  had  no  possessive  right  in 
anything  but  in  children,  and  those  were  "  ours." 

Babies  are  the  great  delight,  and  to  bear  them  is 
the  great  ambition  of  Mormon  women.  Child-mur- 
der, the  barbarous  custom  of  civilized  life,  practised 
to  an  almost  incredible  extent  in  our  large  cities, 
where  it  is  found  "  too  expensive  to  have  a  family," 
cannot  at  any  rate  be  laid  to  the  charge  of  the  "  twin 
relic  of  barbarism  "  in  Utah. 

Here,  at  least  among  the  country  people,  it  is  econ- 
omy to  have  a  large  family.  They  all  work  ;  the 
little  busy  bee  is  not  more  active  than  a  Mormon 
child.  One  of  the  Mrs.  Enharts  showed  me  a  very 
neatly-sewed  patchwork  quilt  made  by  ' '  Vinny  "  at  the 
age  of  nine.  "Yes,"  exclaimed  another  Mrs.  En- 
hart,  "  my  Josie  made  one  of  them  when  she  was  only 
seven  ! "  I  did  not  like  to  inquire  how  many  children 


A  NEW   GARDEN  OF  EDEN.  89 

each  lady  had,  lest  I  might  wound  the  feelings  of 
some  wife  less  fortunate  than  the  others.  But  the 
children  were  all  general  sto'ck — they  were  all  "  ours  " 
— the  only  articles  of  property,  and  those  of  priceless 
value,  which  were  not  exclusively  Mr.  Enhart's. 

After  breakfast  I  strolled  in  the  garden,  where  two 
of  the  young  Hebes  were  picking  gooseberries.  So 
I  picked  gooseberries;  and  when  I  talked  with  one 
young  lady  they  both  answered,  as  their  mothers  did, 
and  they  both  asked  me  the  same  questions  simul- 
taneously. They  knew  little  of  the  outside  world, 
nor  did  they  care  to  know.  They  were  happy  in 
their  ignorance  of  it. 

The  garden — I  could  not  help  thinking  of  the 
garden  of  Eden,  only  there  were  two  Eves  instead  of 
one  in  it — was  an  acre  in  extent,  and  was  full  of  most 
delicious  fruit :  gooseberries,  currants,  blackberries, 
apricots,  pears,  apples,  peaches,  and  grapes,  all  but 
the  latter  quite  ripe,  and  of  larger  size  and  more 
abundant  on  the  trees  and  vines  than  we  ever  have 
them  at  home.  These  women  "tempted  me,  and  I 
did  eat,"  and  the  good  Lord  did  not  take  offence  ;  at 
any  rate,  He  did  not  send  any  angel  with  a  two-edged 
sword  after  us. 

The  eldest  Mrs.  Enhart  gave  me  a  most  interesting 
account  of  their  early  experiences  in  Utah.  She  was 
in  the  first  band  that  came  after  the  pioneers.  The 


9O  THE   MORMON  EXODUS. 

story  of  the  Plymouth  pilgrims  is  not  more  replete 
with  the  memories  of  hardship  and  danger.  What  a 
long  tramp  those  zealous  Mormons  had  over  a  trackless 
desert,  sterile  plains,  and  rocky  mountains  worse  to 
endure,  surrounded  as  they  were  not  only  by  natural 
obstacles,  but  by  mortal  foes,  a  thousand  times  worse 
than  the  Atlantic  storms  that  beat  upon  the  "  May- 
flower !  " 

Like  those  old  pilgrims,  they  were  sustained  by  a 
great  idea.  They  lived  on  that  idea,  and  they  were 
willing  to  die  for  it.  In  neither  case  was  it  "  for  the 
right  of  every  man  to  worship  God  according  to  the 
dictates  of  his  own  conscience."  That  would  have 
been  a  nobler  cause  than  ever  was  maintained  by 
either  Puritan  or  Mormon.  They  both  fled  from 
religious  persecution,  to  find  a  land  which  they  might 
appropriate  to  themselves  for  their  own  system  of 
worship,  and  for  that  alone. 

Exactly  parallel  have  been  the  cases  thus  far,  and 
parallel  they  will  continue.  When  the  Quakers  and 
the  Baptists  endeavored  to  maintain  their  religious 
tenets  among  the  Puritans,  they  were  told  to  "go 
away  from  their  midst,"  and  if  they  refused  to  go 
they  were  persecuted.  By-and-by  New  England 
became  settled  by  all  denominations  in  spite  of 
intolerant  edicts,  and  now  bigotry  has  no  power. 

Precisely  in  this  spirit  did  the  Mormons  endeavor 


FAITH   IN   BROTHER  BRIGHAM.  91 

to  warn  off  the  Gentiles  who  came  to  Utah.  They 
refused  to  leave.  Then  they  persecuted  them,  as 
they  themselves  had  been  persecuted.  But  that  great 
missionary,  the  Union  Pacific  Railroad,  came  along 
step  by  step,  and  when  the  last  rail  was  spiked  in 
Utah,  universal  toleration  echoed  to  the  sound  of 
the  hammer  ;  and  now  all  past  bickerings  and  persecu- 
tions should  be  forgotten,  and  different  Christianities 
and  civilizations  allowed  to  work  themselves  out 
side  by  side. 

Mrs.  Enhart  said,  that  as  they  toiled  along  the 
road  they  all  supposed  that  as  soon  as  they  arrived 
they  would  find  rich  prairies  and  green  meadows — 
everything  ready  to  plant  their  seed  and  to  commence 
raising  their  herds. 

"  And  lucky  it  was  we  did  not  know  what  was 
before  us,"  she  added,  "for  when  we  got  through 
Emigration  Canon  and  saw  nothing  but  sage-brush, 
sand,  and  alkali,  if  we  had  not  had  faith  we  should 
have  died.  But  Brother  Brigham  told  us  it  was  all 
right — this  was  the  place.  It  was  a  desert,  but  God 
would  make  it  '  blossom  as  the  rose  ; '  and  thanks 
be  to  Him,  He  has.  He  has  blessed  us  as  he  never 
blessed  any  people  before  ! 

"Anyway,  I  am  happy,  when  I  think  what  we  have 
been  through.  The  first  year  we  planted  our  seed, 
nothing  came  of  it ;  the  second,  the  crickets  de- 


92  THE   ROAD   TO   SALT  LAKE. 

stroyed  everything ;  then  came  the  grasshopper 
plague.  In  that  year,  in  one  day,  our  boys  shoveled 
them  into  sacks  and  buried  over  fifty  bushels  of  them 
in  a  hole.  The  air  was  full  of  the  horrid  smell  of  the 
dead  insects,  and  we  all  feared  a  plague  in  addition  to 
the  loss  of  the  crop.  But  look  at  things  now.  Wasn't 
President  Young  right  ?  We  have  always  found  his 
advice  right,  because  he  has  revelations  from  God, 
and  what  you  see  all  round  here  proves  it." 

Far  was  it  from  me  to  dispute  with  the  good  lady, 
or  to  attempt  to  weaken  her  faith  in  the  divine  mis- 
sion of  Brigham  Young,  because  she  could  not  dis- 
connect it  from  faith  in  God.  I  thanked  her  for  her 
story,  and  thanked  them  all,  old  and  young,  for  their 
kindness  and  hospitality  ;  and  Dick  then  jogged  along 
with  his  paunch  filled  with  oats,  and  I  had  as  many 
apricots  and  gooseberries  as  my  pockets  would  hold. 

For  the  remainder  of  the  way  to  Salt  Lake  City,  a 
distance  of  twenty-five  miles,  there  is  an  almost  con- 
stant succession  of  little  hamlets  and  single  farm- 
houses, surrounded  by  gardens,  and  often  with  shade- 
trees  planted  upon  the  street.  On  this  hot  day  a 
few  more  of  them  would  have  made  me  grateful,  but 
as  they,  like  all  other  green  things  here,  require  irri- 
gation, they  are  only  seen  in  the  neighborhood  of 
dwellings. 

At  noon  I  reached  Sessions,  a  large  town  distant 


ARRIVAL  AT   THE   CITY.  93 

ten  miles  from  Salt  Lake  City.  Resting  here  awhile, 
and  having  dined  at  the  hotel,  I  attained  my  destina- 
tion early  in  the  afternoon,  having  accomplished 
eighty  miles  in  the  last  twenty-four  hours.  The 
whole  ride  from  Cariboo  is  two  hundred  and  fifty 
miles,  and  the  time  occupied  on  the  road  was  five 
days. 

It  had  been  a  delightful  journey,  and  it  gave  me 
an  insight  of  the  domestic  life  and  character  of  the 
people  not  easily  attained  by  any  other  mode  of  travel, 
besides  affording  the  best  opportunities  of  viewing 
the  fine  scenery  and  estimating  the  agricultural  value 
of  the  land. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

Ride  to  Little  Cottonwood. — Apostates  and  Believers. — Breakfast  with 
a  Polygamic  Apostate. — The  "Bench." — Scenery  in  the  Canon. — 
The  Persevering  Railroad. —  Granite  City. — The  Snow-Slide. — 
Story  of  an  Early  Settler. — Past  Animosity  and  Present  Concord. 

LITTLE  Cottonwood  Canon  is  the  location  of  the 
principal  silver  mines  of  Utah.     They  are  by  no 
means,  however,  confined  to   it,  but  are  to  be  found 
in  almost  every  mountain  of  the  Wasatch  and  Western 
ranges  which  enclose  the  Salt  Lake  Valley. 

The  easiest  way  to  approach  this  district  is  by  the 
Utah  Southern  Railroad,  as  far  as  Sandy,  and  then 
by  the  narrow-gauge  railroad,  a  marvel  of  engineer- 
ing skill,  to  Granite  City,  its  present  terminus.  This 
little  road  has  overcome  a  grade  of  two  hundred  feet 
to  the  mile,  and  if  it  is  continued  to  Alta,  the  head 
of  the  canon,  the  ascent  will  be  much  greater  and 
seemingly  impossible.  The  whole  distance  of  rail  to 
Granite  City  from  Salt  Lake  City  is  eighteen  miles, 
and  thence  the  trip  is  generally  made  on  horseback, 
over  a  very  rough  wagon-freight  road  of  ten  miles. 


RIDE  TO   LITTLE   COTTON  WOOD.  95 

Being  still  the  owner  of  little  Dick,  and  having  a 
greater  liking  at  all  times  for  the  comfortable  Mexican 
saddle  and  the  fresh  air  than  for  a  railroad-car  with 
its  atmosphere  of  many  breaths,  I  found  it  more 
agreeable  to  accomplish  the  whole  distance  of  twenty- 
eight  miles  on  horseback. 

I  left  the  town  at  an  early  hour  on  Sunday,  August 
24th,  before  many  people  were  astir.  The  shadows 
of  the  eastern  mountains,  beneath  which  was  my  path, 
were  thrown  over  the  road,  while  the  western  range 
was  glowing  in  the  sunlight,  gradually  extending 
into  the  valley  at  their  base,  until  suddenly,  as  I 
passed  the  mouth  of  Emigration  Canon,  the  dazzling 
sun-blaze  broke  through  it  upon  the  whole  plain. 

I  had  promised  to  breakfast  with  an  "apostate" 
gentleman,  who  lived  five  miles  from  the  city.  Before 
describing  my  arrival  at  his  comfortable  farm-house, 
I  will  state,  from  the  most  reliable  authority,  that  in 
the  city  of  Salt  Lake  the  Gentile  population  may  be 
considered  one-sixth,  and  in  the  territory  generally, 
one-tenth  of  the  whole.  Besides  the  Mormons  and  the 
Gentiles,  there  is  at  present  a  small  but  rapidly  in- 
creasing percentage  of  apostates — people  who  have 
been  Mormons,  but  are  Mormons  no  longer.  My 
friend  Simmons  is  one  of  these. 

An  apostate  is  a  man  who  asserts  that  he  has 
seen  the  error  of  his  ways,  and  has  accordingly  re- 


96  BELIEVERS   AND   APOSTATES. 

nounced  the  Mormon  faith.  Sometimes  you  will  find 
them  sincere,  sometimes  not. 

I  find  it  hard  to  believe  that,  in  this  age  of  the 
world,  any  educated  man  can  have,  or  have  had,  a  real 
faith  in  the  inspiration  of  Joe  Smith  or  of  Brigham 
Young,  while  I  am  not  surprised  that  those  who  were 
taught  it  in  their  infancy  should  remain  conscientious 
believers.  It  is  no  more  strange  that  they  should 
implicitly  credit  the  story  of  Joe  Smith's  receiving 
heavenly  revelations  on  golden  plates  than  it  is  that 
we  should  believe  that  Moses  talked  with  God  and 
received  the  divine  commandments  on  stone  tablets. 
I  apprehend  that  most  people  believe  in  their 
various  religions  because  they  were  taught  them  by 
their  parents,  and  I  do  not  know  why  young  Mor- 
mons should  be  exceptions.  But  I  do  not  understand 
how  a  man  of  fair  education  can  embrace  Mormonism 
de  novo  with  sincerity. 

Therefore  it  is  that  the  apostates  here  are  not  gen- 
erally the  young  men  and  women,  but  they  are  found 
among  those  who  originally  "  came  out  from  the 
world."  It  is  not  fair  to  say  that  every  educated 
person  who  thus  joined  the  church  was  a  hypocrite, 
nor  that  every  uneducated  person  who  joined  it  was  a 
fool.  Nevertheless,  it  is  true  that  most  of  the  hypo- 
crites are  among  the  former  class,  and  most  of  the 
fools  are  among  the  latter.  There  are  apostates  from 


AN  APOSTATE  FAMILY.  97 

both  these  divisions  :  from  the  first,  because  they  find 
that  the  religion  no  longer  "  pays;"  and  from  the  last, 
because  they  become  educated  by  association  with 
Gentiles,  and  are  really  convinced  of  their  error. 

Besides  the  out-and-out  apostates  there  are  secta- 
rians, such  as  the  Godbeites  and  the  Morrisites,  who 
accept  most  of  the  Mormon  faith,  ruling  out  the 
practice  of  polygamy  ;  but  these  are  few  in  number. 

Among  the  apostates  polygamy  is  of  course  sup- 
posed to  be  at  once  discarded,  and  so  when  I  rode  up 
to  my  friend  Simmons's  door,  I  anticipated  the  wel- 
come of  a  quiet  little  Gentile  Christian  family.  What 
was  my  surprise,  then,  at  beholding  a  perfect  bee- 
hive ! 

I  was  first  introduced  to  Mrs.  S.  No.  I,  and  then  to 
Mrs.  S.  No.  3,  the  intermediate  lady  having  been 
lost  to  the  family  a  year  or  two  since.  Then  there 
were  a  number  of  boys  and  girls  approaching  the 
innumerable.  Mr.  S.,  who  takes  count  of  them  occa- 
sionally, said  the  last  census  gave  eleven  boys  and 
twelve  girls. 

"Good  gracious,  Simmons!"  I  exclaimed,  "I 
thought  you  had  been  an  apostate  for  sixteen  years. 
Whose  little  four-year-old  is  this  ?  "  "  Why,  he's  mine, 
of  course,"  he  replied,  "  and  that's  his  mother,"  point- 
ing to  a  comely,  smiling  young  woman  who  stood  lean- 
ing affectionately  on  the  shoulder  of  the  elder  Mrs.  S. 
5 


98  WHAT   COULD   SIMMONS  DO? 

"You  see  how  it  was,"  continued  the  head  of  the 
family;  "when  I  apostatized  I  had  three  wives. 
What  was  I  going  to  do  ?  Were  we  going  to  turn  two 
of  'em  adrift  on  the  cold  charity  of  the  world  ?  Could 
we  do  that,  my  dear?  "  The  elder  Mrs.  S.,  who  was 
thus  appealed  to,  said,  "  Certainly  not,"  and  the 
younger  Mrs.  S.  just  had  the  merriest  twinkle  in  her 
eye,  and  they  all  laughed,  and  I  laughed  too.  (t  Well, 
of  course,"  continued  Mr.  S.,  "we  all  had  to  live 
together — and  more  children  would  come."  "Na- 
turally,"! observed.  "Yes,  naturally,"  echoed  my 
host,  "  we  could  not  help  that,  you  know."  Well,  as 
Mr.  Simmons  was  contented,  and  the  two  Mrs.  S. 
were  contented,  and  the  twenty-three  children  were 
contented,  I  did  not  think  their  little  family  arrange- 
ment was  any  business  of  mine.  Simmons  did  not 
say  so,  but  his  circumstances  and  surroundings  clearly 
evinced  that,  so  far  from  considering  polygamy  as  the 
damning  spot  in  the  texture  of  his  former  religion,  he 
thought  it  the  only  piece  of  the  whole  cloth  worth 
saving. 

After  breakfast  I  pursued  my  way  for  a  short  dis- 
tance on  the  plain,  which  is  everywhere  well  cultivated, 
and  then  mounted  a  few  feet  on  to  the  level  "  bench  " 
where  the  land  is  principally  used  for  pasture. 

The  great  Salt  Lake  Valley,  besides  enclosing  the 
lake  itself,  a  sheet  of  water  ninety  miles  long  by 


BENCHES — IRRIGATION.  99 

forty  wide,  consists  of  low  levels  for  fifty  miles  north 
and  south,  bordered  on  the  east  by  the  Wasatch 
range  of  mountains,  whither  I  was  bound,  and  on  the 
west  by  the  Oquirrh  range. 

Both  ranges  are  intersected  by  various  canons  or 
valleys  of  sharp  descent,  whence  the  mountain- 
streams  pour  with  great  velocity  and  abundance  into 
the  River  Jordan,  which,  taking  its  rise  at  the  southern' 
limit  of  the  valley  in  a  fresh-water  lake,  terminates 
in  the  great  Salt  Lake  at  the  north. 

All  along  the  foot-hills,  at  various  elevations 
from  the.  plain,  are  clearly  defined  terraces,  called 
"  benches,"  that  were  at  different  epochs  the  shores 
of  an  immense  lake  which  gradually  dwindled  down 
from  its  highest  elevation  to  its  present  level,  and  in 
the  course  of  ages,  as  is  evident  from  the  landmarks 
of  even  the  last  thirty  years,  will  disappear  alto- 
gether. 

Cache  Valley  and  the  other  valleys  of  the  north, 
through  which  I  have  recently  travelled,  have  pre- 
cisely the  same  formation.  Every  one  of  them,  like 
this  of  Salt  Lake,  when  left  by  the  waters,  became  an 
alkaline  desert.  Every  one  of  them,  like  this,  if  the 
same  simple  system  of  irrigation  is  pursued,  may 
become  a  garden. 

All  that  is  done  here  is  to  dig  wide  and  deep 
ditches  across  the  mouths  of  the  streams  at  the 


98  WHAT  COULD   SIMMONS  DO  ? 

"You  see  how  it  was,"  continued  the  head  of  the 
family;  "when  I  apostatized  I  had  three  wives. 
What  was  I  going  to  do  ?  Were  we  going  to  turn  two 
of  'em  adrift  on  the  cold  charity  of  the  world  ?  Could 
we  do  that,  my  dear?  "  The  elder  Mrs.  S.,  who  was 
thus  appealed  to,  said,  "  Certainly  not,"  and  the 
younger  Mrs.  S.  just  had  the  merriest  twinkle  in  her 
eye,  and  they  all  laughed,  and  I  laughed  too.  "  Well, 
of  course,"  continued  Mr.  S.,  "we  all  had  to  live 
together — and  more  children  would  come."  "Na- 
turally," I  observed.  "Yes,  naturally,"  echoed  my 
host,  "  we  could  not  help  that,  you  know."  Well,  as 
Mr.  Simmons  was  contented,  and  the  two  Mrs.  S. 
were  contented,  and  the  twenty-three  children  were 
contented,  I  did  not  think  their  little  family  arrange- 
ment was  any  business  of  mine.  Simmons  did  not 
say  so,  but  his  circumstances  and  surroundings  clearly 
evinced  that,  so  far  from  considering  polygamy  as  the 
damning  spot  in  the  texture  of  his  former  religion,  he 
thought  it  the  only  piece  of  the  whole  cloth  worth 
saving. 

After  breakfast  I  pursued  my  way  for  a  short  dis- 
tance on  the  plain,  which  is  everywhere  well  cultivated, 
and  then  mounted  a  few  feet  on  to  the  level  "  bench  " 
where  the  land  is  principally  used  for  pasture. 

The  great  Salt  Lake  Valley,  besides  enclosing  the 
lake  itself,  a  sheet  of  water  ninety  miles  long  by 


BENCHES — IRRIGATION.  99 

forty  wide,  consists  of  low  levels  for  fifty  miles  north 
and  south,  bordered  on  the  east  by  the  Wasatch 
range  of  mountains,  whither  I  was  bound,  and  on  the 
west  by  the  Oquirrh  range. 

Both  ranges  are  intersected  by  various  canons  or 
valleys  of  sharp  descent,  whence  the  mountain- 
streams  pour  with  great  velocity  and  abundance  into 
the  River  Jordan,  which,  taking  its  rise  at  the  southern" 
limit  of  the  valley  in  a  fresh-water  lake,  terminates 
in  the  great  Salt  Lake  at  the  north. 

All  along  the  foot-hills,  at  various  elevations 
from  the.  plain,  are  clearly  defined  terraces,  called 
"  benches,"  that  were  at  different  epochs  the  shores 
of  an  immense  lake  which  gradually  dwindled  down 
from  its  highest  elevation  to  its  present  level,  and  in 
the  course  of  ages,  as  is  evident  from  the  landmarks 
of  even  the  last  thirty  years,  will  disappear  alto- 
gether. 

Cache  Valley  and  the  other  valleys  of  the  north, 
through  which  I  have  recently  travelled,  have  pre- 
cisely the  same  formation.  Every  one  of  them,  like 
this  of  Salt  Lake,  when  left  by  the  waters,  became  an 
alkaline  desert.  Every  one  of  them,  like  this,  if  the 
same  simple  system  of  irrigation  is  pursued,  may 
become  a  garden. 

All  that  is  done  here  is  to  dig  wide  and  deep 
ditches  across  the  mouths  of  the  streams  at  the 


100  THE  TWO    COTTONWOODS. 

various  foot-hills  from  north  to  south,  from  which  the 
water  is  let  off  at  convenient  distances  by  sluices  into 
the  low  grounds. 

It  matters  not  to  this  people  if  no  drop  of  rain  falls 
in  the  summer.  Plenty  of  snow  falls  on  the  moun- 
tains in  the  winter ;  some  of  it  yet  remains  there, 
though  it  gradually  melts  and  runs  off  in  copious 
streams.  The  old  alkali  of  the  plains,  saturated  by 
the  artificial  overplus  of  the  waters,  becomes  a  ferti- 
lizer. No  manure  is  or  will  be  required.  Thirty, 
forty,  sometimes  fifty,  and  occasionally  seventy  bushels 
of  wheat  are  produced  to  the  acre  by  this  cheap  pro- 
cess of  agriculture. 

Now,  as  I  ride  along  the  bench,  what  a  different 
view  is  on  either  side  !  how  sharply  does  this  bench 
divide  the  grand  and  the  beautiful !  Towering  snow- 
clad  cliffs  two  thousand  feet  above  me,  on  the  left ; 
thousands  of  acres  of  grain-covered  and  garden- 
spotted  plains  just  below  on  my  right ;  and  thus  I  go 
on  till  the  canon  of  Big  Cottonwood  opens  most 
grandly. 

But  there  is  not  my  road.  A  mile  or  two  beyond 
— for  the  ridge  between  them,  though  two  thousand 
feet  high,  comes  to  a  sharp  dividing  point — I  enter 
what  is  called  "  Little  Cottonwood  Canon,"  although 
it  is  by  far  the  deeper  cut  of  the  two.  Its  littleness 
of  width  is  its  beauty,  for  it  is  so  narrow  that  the  cliffs 


GRANITE   CITY.  '    IOI 

on  either  side  are  almost  perpendicular.  In  the  hol- 
low a  wide,  rushing  stream  thunders  noisily  along, 
always  on  the  descent,  and  sometimes  leaping  in  steep 
cascades.  By  its  side  is  the  wagon-road  and  the  nar- 
row-gauge railroad,  over  which  a  train  of  cars  was 
slowly  struggling  up  the  hill. 

We  arrived  together  at  Granite  City.  This  city 
owes  its  present  importance  to  the  fact  that  here  the 
railroad  terminates  just  now,  and  the  wagon-traffic 
begins.  When  the  road  is  completed  farther  up, 
Granite  City  will  move  up  too.  This  will  be  easily 
effected  by  drinking  all  the  whiskey  in  it  and  pulling 
down  the  houses  and  putting  them  up  again,  .and  re- 
stocking them  with  whiskey.  The  whole  process  of 
changing  the  base  of  this  city  can  be  effected  in  two 
days. 

The  remaining  ten  miles  to  Alta  City  is  often  diffi- 
cult to  accomplish  on  account  of  the  vast  number  of 
loaded  teams  descending  with  ore  from  the  upper 
mines.  This  is  brought  by  wagons,  in  strong  bags, 
containing  each  eighty  to  one  hundred  pounds,  and 
being  transferred  to  the  railroad  at  Granite  City,  is 
carried  to  the  smelting-works  in  the  valley. 

The  passenger-train  had  just  discharged  its  travel- 
lers, who  here  procured  horses,  and  I  thus  found  my- 
self in  a  large  company.  It  was  lively  work,  dodging 
the  descending  teams  and  passing  slow  horsemen ; 


102  THE  AVALANCHE. 

and  all  this  travel  raised  a  cloud  of  dust  so  blinding 
that  there  was  some  little  danger  of  pitching  headlong 
into  the  torrent  below.  Occasionally  the  dusty  cloud 
would  clear  up,  and  then  we  had  magnificent  views 
all  around  us,  while  almost  constantly  at  our  sides 
were  those  perpendicular  granite  walls.  As  we  pro- 
gressed, the  mountains  were  found  well  timbered.  It 
was  curious  to  be  able  to  estimate  the  depth  of  the 
snow  in  winter,  for  in  that  leisure  season  most  of  the 
wood-felling  is  done.  The  stumps  were  mostly  from 
ten  to  twelve  feet  high,  that  being  the  level  of  the 
snow  from  which  the  trees  were  cut. 

Four  or  five  miles  above  Granite  City,  and  about 
the  same  distance  from  Alta,  the  marks  of  the  great 
avalanche  of  last  winter  were  pointed  out  to  us. 
Seven  men  with  twelve  mules  were  drawing  ore  on 
sleds,  when  suddenly  an  immense  body  of  snow,  a  quar- 
ter of  a  mile  in  extent,  came  down  from  the  mountain 
on  our  left  from  a  height  of  fifteen  hundred  feet, 
crushing  trees  and  boulders  of  rock  on  its  way,  and 
sweeping  along  far  across  the  river  the  unfortunate 
teamsters  and  all  the  mules  but  one,  which  in  some 
way  made  its  escape.  For  all  the  rest  of  the  winter, 
the  spring,  and  most  of  the  summer,  they  lay  buried 
in  the  snow,  and  but  recently  were  discovered,  stiffly 
frozen  in  their  icy  shrouds.  Long  will  the  spot  be 
remembered,  and  many  an  anxious  glance  will  be 


ARRIVAL  AT  ALTA.  103 

cast  aloft  as  men  in  winter  pass  hurriedly  along  this 
part  of  the  trail. 

At  noon  we  arrived  at  Alta  City,  the  head  of  the 
canon,  and  situated  directly  under  the  celebrated 
Emma  Mine. 


CHAPTER  X. 

Alta  City .  — Attacked  by  Speculators.  —  " Prospects'"  and  Richly  De- 
veloped Mines. —  Tom  Sweeney. — History  of  the  Emma  Mine. — 
A  Multitude  of  other  Mines. — Unsafe  and  Safe  Speculations. 


I  HAD  scarcely  deposited  my  cantinas  on  the  stoop 
of  the  hotel,  when  I  was  approached  by  at  least  a 
dozen  mining  speculators  or  brokers  with  offers  of 
"  valuable  prospects"  and  "  richly  developed  mines." 
Let  me  here  explain  that  "prospects"  are  small  ex- 
cavations, not  much  larger  than  badger-holes,  in  the 
sides  of  the  mountains.  There  are  tens  of  thousands  of 
them  in  this  and  other  canons.  The  hills  are  honey- 
combed with  them.  "Richly  developed  mines"  are 
likewise  plentiful,  but  most  of  the  riches  are  put  in, 
and  too  often  little  in  return  is  taken  out.  Now  and 
then,  as  in  the  case  of  the  "  Emma,"  the  "  Flagstaff," 
and  some  few  others,  more  is  taken  out  than  is  put 
in.  But  it  is  doubtful  if  the  English  capitalists  who 
buried  five  million  pounds  sterling  in  the  Emma  will 
be  able  to  dig  one  million  of  it  out.  I  secured  a  seat 
at  the  table  as  far  as  possible  from  the  crowd  that 


SWEENEY'S  HISTORY  OF  THE  EMMA.        105 

had  assaulted  me,  so  that  I  might  peacefully  enjoy 
my  dinner,  which  was  a  very  good  one  ;  and  it  may 
be  added  that  Mr.  Fuller's  hotel  is  in  all  respects  a 
remarkably  excellent  house,  considering  its  locality. 

In  the  afternoon  I  made  the  acquaintance  of  Mr. 
Thomas  Sweeney,  who  assured  me  that  the  New  York 
Alderman  of  the  same  name  was  no  relative  of  his. 
So  I  trusted  more  readily  to  his  guidance  and  informa- 
tion. We  first  walked  up  to  the  Emma  Mine. 

"  Now,  "says  Mr.  Sweeney,  "I'll  tell  you  what, 
there's  some  queer  capers  going  on,  as  there  have 
always  been  going  on,  about  that  Emma."  There- 
upon he  went  back  into  its  early  history,  and  from 
his  statements,  corroborated  by  those  of  others,  this 
is  it :  The  actual  discovery  of  the  mine,  like  that  of 
great  continents  and  inventions,  is  somewhat  involved 
in  obscurity.  A  certain  Mr.  Smith  first  stumbled  on 
it,  but  Mr.  Woodman,  whom  I  afterwards  met,  as- 
sured me  that  he  made  the  first  practical  exploration 
in  the  year  1865.  In  1868  Mr.  Woodman  and  his 
partner  offered  one-quarter  of  the  mine  for  $3,000, 
and  could  not  find  a  purchaser.  They  had  then 
worked  down  eighty-five  feet,  and  commenced  ship- 
ping and  selling  their  ore.  Before  that,  they  were  so 
reduced  that  in  their  log-cabin  they  actually  suffered 
for  want  of  food. 

After  they  had  proved   the  value  of  the  mine  to 


IO6  THE  EMMA  FINANCIERS. 

some  extent,  Walker  Brothers,  of  Salt  Lake,  paid 
them  $25,000  for  one-sixth,  and  then  Mr.  Hussey 
paid  them  $25,000  for  one-quarter  of  it.  These  par- 
ties thereupon  altogether  sold  the  whole  to  Parks  and 
Baxter  for  $750,000,  which  large  sum  these  gentle- 
men actually  realized  from  the  products  of  the  mine. 

Then  came  in  a  great  deal  of  dark  financial  manage- 
ment, in  which  Mr.  Sam  Ten  Eyck,  whom  I  saw  at 
Parley  Park  where  he  is  now  operating  on  a  new  min- 
ing scheme,  claims  to  have  borne  a  conspicuous  part. 
Senator  Stewart,  of  Nevada,  in  some  way  or  other,  is 
said  to  have  made  $100,000  out  of  these  manoeuvres. 
Whether  Mr.  Schenck,  our  Minister  to  London,  made 
any  money  or  not  is  not  positively  known,  but  that  he 
lost  a  great  deal  of  reputation  is  notorious.  Finally, 
through  the  instrumentality,  direct  or  indirect,  of  all 
these  parties,  the  Emma  Mine  was  "stocked"  in  the 
English  market  for  ^"1,000,000,  in  50,000  shares  of 
£20  each.  The  mine  had  paid  for  itself  to  its  previous 
owners.  This  immense  sum  was  all  clear  profit,  less 
undiscovered  brokers'  commissions. 

Eighteen  per  cent,  dividend  was  guaranteed  to  the 
stockholders  for  the  first  year — nothing  was  said  about 
the  second  year ;  but  poor  gullible  John  Bull  was  led 
to  suppose  that  the  dividend  would  be  yet  more  abun- 
dant. The  price  of  shares  rushed  rapidly  up  to  ^33. 
The  eighteen  per  cent,  was  punctually  paid  out  of  the 


ENGLISH   MANAGEMENT.  IO/ 

sale  of  ore  which  had  been  reserved  for  that  purpose. 
The  sellers  could  well  have  afforded  to  pay  it  even  if 
none  had  been  produced.  In  the  second  year  the 
dividend  was  nothing.  The  stock  fell  to  £2.1  os.,  is 
now  about  £4,  and  what  it  will  be  in  the  future  is  a 
mystery. 

There  are  two  theories  in  Alta.  One  is  that  the 
vein  has  actually  given  out  and  the  mine  is  worth 
nothing ;  the  other  is  that  there  is  a  rich  deposit  in 
sight,  capable  of  producing  100  tons  per  day,  whereas 
the  policy  now  is  to  turn  out  only  fifteen  tons,  in  order 
to  "  bear  down  "  and  buy  in  the  stock.  One  suppo- 
sition or  the  other  is  likely  to  be  true,  but  I  would  not 
like  to  speculate  on  either. 

It  is  some  satisfaction  that,  whatever  may  have  been 
the  sharp  practice  of  Americans  in  the  first  place,  the 
present  "  devilish  sly"  trick  and  secrecy  is  being  per- 
formed and  maintained  by  Englishmen,  who  now  con- 
trol the  affairs  of  the  mine. 

At  the  entrance  of  the  shaft  are  various  stagings, 
buildings,  and  offices  connected  with  its  operations. 
We  applied  to  the  proper  person  for  liberty  to  enter 
the  bowels  of  the  precious  earth,  and  met  with  a  de- 
cided though  courteous  refusal.  There  were  then  evi- 
dently secrets  down  there,  and  secrecy  was  to  be 
maintained  for  the  speculative  purposes  already  indi- 
cated. This  stamps  the  present  as  well  as  the  past 


108  A    STOCK-JOBBING   FRAUD. 

management  a  swindle.  The  stock  of  the  Emma 
Mine  is  on  the  open  market,  and  if  it  is  the  desire  of 
those  who  control  it  that  the  public  should  know  its 
real  value,  there  should  be  no  concealment  of  this 
kind.  Surely,  then,  be  the  mine  valuable  or  valueless, 
it  is  a  stock-jobbing  fraud. 

I  was  once  refused  admittance  to  a  pin-factory  in 
Birmingham,  lest  I  should  steal  the  trade,  and  now 
was  refused  admittance  to  a  British  mine,  lest  the  pub- 
lic should  know  the  value  of  their  own  property. 

Some  little  statistical  data  were,  however,  afforded. 
The  tunnel  is  375  feet  long  ;  the  shaft,  400  feet  deep  ; 
150  men  are  daily  employed.  The  average  value  of 
the  ore  is  from  $150  to  $200  per  ton,  42  per  cent,  of 
which  is  lead,  and  100  ounces  of  it  to  the  ton  is  silver — 
and  that  is  all  that  could  be  learned  from  the  clerk  of 
the  office ;  and  so  we  descended  to  the  hotel. 

Seated  around  the  bar-room  stove — for  it  is  always 
cold  at  night  in  Alta — I  asked  of  several  miners  how 
many  mines  they  supposed  there  might  be  within  fifty 
miles  of  Salt  Lake  City. 

"Well,  in  the  first  place,"  replied  a  pretty  thorough- 
ly informed  man,  "let  me  tell  you  the  chief  mining 
districts.  These  are  :  Little  Cotton  wood,  Big  Cotton- 
wood,  American  Fork,  Parley  Park,  Argenta,  Snake 
Creek,  Bingham,  Rush  Valley,  Dry  Canon,  Ophir, 
Columbia,  Lake  Side,  Tintic,  Camp  Floyd,  North 


A  FEW   MINES.  IOQ 

Star,  West  Star,  East  Star,  South  Star,  Mount  Nebo, 
and  several  more." 

Then  my  informant,  with  the  interpolation  of  others, 
began  to  enumerate  the  best  mines  in  these  various 
districts,  after  this  manner:  "  Emma,  Vallejo,  South 
Star,  Flagstaff,  Illinois  Tunnel,  Ohio,  Savage,  Gray 
Rock,  Montezuma,  Last  Chance,  Highland  Chief, 
Reed  &  Benson,  Monitor,  Magnet,  Titus,  Western 
Star,  Belle,  Hiawatha,  Lilliwah,  Gophir,  Revolution, 
Hidden  Treasure,  Crcesus,  Pioneer,  Idaho,  McHenry, 
McKay,  Home  Ticket,  Rockford,  Emma  Dagmar, 
Davenport,  Mary,  Excelsior,  Amy  May,  Imperial 
Tunnel,  White  Cloud,  Grizzly,  Pocahontas,  Baltic, 
Lavinia,  Regulation,  Darlington,  City  Rock,  Cedar, 
Royal  George,  Roxford,  Pleasant  View,  Fuller,  Fred- 
erick, Enterprise,  Superior,  Buckeye,  Golden  Gate, 
Hershell,  Gladiator,  Wellington,  Webster,  Peruvian, 
Skipper,  Oxford,  Geneva,  Clipper,  Daisy,  Jacob  As- 
tor,  Ida,  Emily,  Louisa,  Sedan,  Lexington,  Little 
Giant —  "  Stop  !  stop  !  gentlemen,"  I  exclaimed, 
"  these  surely  cannot  be  all  productive  mines  ?  "  "  Oh 
yes  they  are,  and  there  are  lots  more,  to  say  nothing 
of  prospects."  In  short,  and  not  to  weary  the  reader 
with  more  of  this,  these  miners  and  others  whom  I 
met  in  other  districts  agreed  on  the  average  with  this 
broad  statement.  There  are  around  Salt  Lake  more 
than  30,000  locations,  including  working  mines  and 


1 10  MINING  WEALTH. 

prospects,  of  which  over  a  thousand  are  in  operation, 
employing  more  than  twenty  first-class  and  several 
small  furnaces,  and  ten  thousand  men  in  operating  the 
whole. 

The  value  of  production  is  over  $6,000,000  an- 
nually. To  whose  benefit  does  this  enormous  wealth 
accrue  ?  Not  to  the  working  miners,  who  are  always 
"  prospecting"  and  always  poor,  but  to  rich  capital- 
ists and  thriving  speculators.  Doubtless  the  moun- 
tains are  full  of  silver  and  lead,  and  if  capital  could  be 
obtained  to  work  all  these  thirty  thousand  prospects 
and  a  hundred  thousand  more  which  might  be  found, 
silver  would  so  glut  the  world's  markets  that  its  pur- 
chasing value  would  be  materially  reduced.  But  only 
a  few  of  the  largest  mines  are  worked  to  their  full 
capacity,  while  ntost  of  even  those  are  used  simply  for 
stock -jobbing  purposes. 

The  proceedings  cited  in  regard  to  the  Emma  ap- 
ply to  many  of  the  rest.  A  mine  is  bought  for  a  few 
thousand  dollars,  and  by  trickery  or  false  representa- 
tions is  "put  on  the  market"  for  hundreds  of  thou- 
sands or  millions,  which,  if  operated  on  the  basis  of  its 
true  value,  would  yield  paying  dividends.  With  the 
present  fraudulent  system  it  pays  nothing  to  the  de- 
luded purchasers.  But  the  mines  will  all  contribute 
largely  to  the  prosperity  of  Utah  and  especially  to 
that  of  Salt  Lake  City,  by  bringing  in  population  and 


Ill 

capital,  and  enhancing  the  value  of  real-estate.  The 
safest  speculation  is  not  in  mines,  but  in  houses  and 
lands. 

On  the  next  day,  under  the  pilotage  of  Mr.  Sweeney, 
I  climbed  the  hills,  looked  into  a  hundred  small  holes 
or  "  prospects,"  talked  with  the  miners,  who  in  their 
poverty  were  living  on  rich  hopes  for  the  future,  and 
then,  my  previous  experience  in  gold  mines  at  Cariboo 
serving  as  a  warning  to  be  careful,  prepared  to  leave 
Little  Cottonwood  without  yielding  to  the  temptation 
of  silver. 


CHAPTER  XI. 

Alta  City.  —  Combination  of  Church,  Prison,  and  Court-house. — Sunday 
Services.  — Dignified  Legal  Proceedings. — Crossing  the  "  Divide. " — 
A  Scotch  Mormon's  Retreat. — If  is  clear  Directions. 

OF  Alta  City  itself  there  is  little  to  be  said.  It  is 
a  small  mining  camp  that  is  dignified  by  this 
high-sounding  name,  and  a  mining  camp  anywhere  in 
this  region  is  simply  a  collection  of  rough  cabins  and 
drinking  "  saloons." 

A  little  half-finished  shanty  among  the  grog-shops 
and  team-stables  "of  Alta  serves  for  a  house  of  Metho- 
dist worship  on  Sundays,  and  for  a  court-house  on 
days  when  justice  is  to  be  administered. 

On  Sunday  evening,  as  is  my  wont  among  Mor- 
mons or  Gentiles,  I  directed  my  steps  to  the  house 
of  worship.  Alas  for  the  Christianity  of  this  mining 
camp  !  All  the  denominations  could  number  only 
two  hearers  thus  far.  The  minister,  who  sat  patiently 
behind  the  rough  deal  pulpit-stand,  waiting  for  more 
to  come,  rose  with  a  smile  of  satisfaction  on  his  coun- 
tenance when  I  entered,  and  shouted,  "  Welcome,  my 
brother,  you  make  three,  and  the  Lord  hath  said  that 


METHODIST   SERVICES.  113 

wherever  two  or  three  are  gathered  together  in  His 
name,  He  will  be  with  them  and  bless  them.  I  was 
going  to  start  on  two,  but  now  I  have  got  the  full 
number,  I  feel  still  more  encouraged." 

So  he  started  and  bellowed  as  if  he  had  been 
preaching  in  the  open,  fields  to  an  audience  as  numer- 
ous as  one  of  those  preached  to  by  Wesley  or  Whit- 
field.  One  by  one  the  congregation  increased,  each 
addition  giving  him  encouragement  to  scream  louder, 
until  before  the  services  closed  the  assembly  amounted 
to  eight  and  a  half,  including  a  woman  and  a  nursing 
baby. 

The  cellar  of  the  building  is  used  as  a  prison,  and 
a  few  gentlemen  who  were  confined  beneath  for  va- 
rious infringements  of  the  law,  such  as  stealing,  shoot- 
ing, and  stabbing,  occasionally  interrupted  the  exer- 
cises with  their  cat-calls  and  imprecations.  These 
only  caused  our  Boanerges  to  exert  his  lungs  the 
more  to  overcome  the  disturbance. 

There  is  a  greater  semblance  of  judicial  form  here 
than  in  some  of  the  more  distant  camps  and  settle- 
ments. Where  there  is  least  of  it  there  is  really  a 
greater  security  of  property  and  life.  Where  a  man 
can  reasonably  expect  to  hang  on  the  nearest  tree  a 
few  moments  after  discovery,  he  is  not  so  apt  to  steal 
as  he  would  be  if  his  punishment  were  less  ;  and  fre- 
quent as  personal  encounters  are,  murderers  have  not 


114  ATTENDING  COURT. 

the  encouraging  hopes  of  Stokes,  that  trial  after  trial 
can  be  had,  and  that  the  chance  of  hanging  is,  after 
all,  very  remote. 

Religion  of  any  kind,  I  am  sorry  to  say,  is  at  a  low 
ebb  in  Alta ;  while  bar-rooms,  faro-tables,  and  licen- 
tiousness are  in  the  full  tide  of  prosperity. 

On  the  next  day  court  was  held  in  the  same  build- 
ing. The  judge,  a  miner  clothed  in  imaginary  ermine 
for  the  occasion,  occupied  the  pulpit  of  yesterday, 
which  was  a  literal  bench  then,  and  now  besides  it 
was  a  judicial  one.  The  ermine  was  truly  metaphori- 
cal, for  he  sat  with  no  dress  over  his  shirt-sleeves, 
cigar  in  mouth,  his  feet  resting  upon  the  desk. 
The  lawyers,  one  of  whom  was  a  teamster  and  the 
other  a  miner,  were  in  the  same  loose  attire,  and  paid 
this  deference  to  the  Court,  that  they  smoked  pipes 
instead  of  Havanas. 

The  case  was  one  of  larceny.  A  Chinese  cook  of  a 
restaurant  had  been  accused  by  his  employer  of  giving 
away  provisions,  notably  cucumbers,  to  some  of  his 
countrymen  outside.  To  every  point  of  the  direct 
examination  of  witnesses,  the  defendant's  lawyer 
cried,  "Your  honor,  I  object."  And  to  every  item 
brought  out  by  the  cross-examination  the  plaintiff's 
lawyer  shouted  the  same  words. 

The  defence  admitted  that  his  client  held  the 
master's  cucumbers  in  his  hands,  but  his  hands  were 


DECISION   OF  THE   COURT.  115 

not  out  of  the  window  when  the  cucumbers  left  them. 
"They  were  inside  the  window,  and  the  outside 
Chinamen  reached  in  and  took  them.  Therefore 
they,  if  they  could  be  found,  should  be  declared 
guilty,  not  my  client." 

The  plaintiff's  counsel  argued  in  this  wise:  "Was 
his  hands  clinched  on  the  cowcumbers  when  t'other 
Chinamen  come  for  'em,  or  was  they  open?  Why 
the didn't  he  hold  on  to  'em  ?  " 

His  Honor  by  this  time  had  finished  his  cigar. 
Then  he  rose  from  the  bench  and  commanded  silence 
by  striking  his  fist  on  the  desk.  "  This  here  case  is 
dismissed,"  he  said.  "  It's  too  thin  ;  thinner'n  ary 
slice  of  cowcumber  ever  I  see.  The  time  of  the  Court 

is  too  valooable  to  be  took  up  with  any  such  • 

nonsense  !  "  So  the  Court,  the  lawyers,  the  plaintiff, 
and  defendant  all  adjourned  to  the  saloon  where  .the 
larceny  had  been  committed,  and  "  took  a  drink  all 
round." 

On  Tuesday  afternoon,  August  26,  I  mounted  little 
Dick  and  wended  my  way  up  to  the  "  divide  "  on  the 
mountain-top  which  separates  this  canon  from  the 
head  of  Big  Cottonwood,  passing  Grizzly  Flat,  another 
mining  camp,  two  miles  above  Alta. 

After  an  ascent  of  two  miles  more,  I  reached  the 
summit  at  an  elevation  of  eleven  thousand  feet  above 
the  level  of  the  sea,  wading  through  the  snow,  and 


ii6  MR.  BRIGHTON'S  RESIDENCE. 

facing  a  wind  cold  as  a  winter's  blast.  But  the  air  was 
clear  of  clouds  or  mist,  and  the  view  down  the  two 
canons  which  lay  before  me  was  magnificent,  totally 
beyond  my  powers  of  description. 

Crossing  over,  I  began  the  steep  descent,  and  came 
into  a  thick  and  high  forest  of  pines.  Following  the 
trail  for  an  hour  longer,  I  came  down  to  a  lovely 
meadow,  perched  still  high  in  the  mountains  by  which 
it  was  surrounded.  In  its  centre  was  a  little  clear, 
transparent  lake,  and  by  its  side  the  rude  but  taste- 
fully built  log-cabin  of  Mr.  Brighton,  a  Mormon  gen- 
tleman, who  for  health,  and  also  for  mining  purposes, 
makes  this  romantic  spot  his  summer  residence. 

Here  I  received  a  cheerful  welcome,  and  while  I 
dined  from  trout  just  caught  from  the  lake,  Dick  was 
turned  loose  to  enjoy  the  feed  on  the  broad  lawn, 
with  the  horses  and  cattle  of  my  host. 

"  Aye,  it  is  a  sweet  spot,"  said  Mr.  Brighton,  as  we 
watched  the  sunset  creeping  of  the  high  mountain 
shadows  over  the  plain  ;  "it  'minds  me  of  my  ain 
hame  in  the  Hielands."  And  I,  too,  thought  of  many 
a  Highland  hill  and  dale,  seen  long  ago,  though  no 
Scottish  mountain  or  glen  could  equal  the  scene 
before  us. 

Rising  early  in  the  morning  after  refreshing  sleep, 
and  then  enjoying  a  hearty  breakfast,  of  which  "  oat- 
meal parritch  "  formed  a  welcome  part,  I  took  leave 


HOW  TO   GET  TO   KIMBALL'S.  1 1/ 

of  my  kind  entertainer  and  his  family,  receiving  his 
directions  for  Parley  Park. 

"  Ye'll  gang  doon  a  mile  or  twa  to  the  sa'-mill,  and 
then  ye'll  tak  the  trail  to  the  richt,  and  keep  alang  till 
ye  come  to  anither  trail,  a  sma'  bit  awa'  to  the  left, 
gin  ye  come  to  a  bit  wood,  where  ye  gang  to  the 
richt,  then  to  the  left ;  then  ye'll  circle  the  mountain, 
and  ye  canna  gang  wrang."  He  added  to  these  clear 
directions  the  information  that  "  Kimball's,"  at  Parley 
Park,  lay  at  a  distance  of  twelve  miles. 


CHAPTER  XII. 

Lost  in  the  Mountains. — Arrival  at  One  of  Mr.  Snyder^s  Houses. — 
The  A/ectionate  Couple.— U.  S.  Encampment.— Parley  Park.- 
Emigration  Canon. — The  Faith,  Courage,  and  Perseverance  of  the 
Saints. 

I  STARTED  at  7  o'clock,  and  reached  the  saw-mill 
without  much  difficulty,  and  there,  of  course,  re- 
membrance failed  me.  Out  of  all  the  trails  that  pre- 
sented themselves,  Dick  was  allowed  to  make  a  selec- 
tion, and  the  result  was  that  Dick  and  his  rider  were 
lost  in  the  wilds  of  the  Wasatch  Mountains. 

All  that  I  knew  was  that  Parley  Park  bore  about  N. 
W. ,  and  in  so  far  as  mountains,  rocks,  and  precipices 
allowed,  I  endeavored  to  steer  that  course,  with  the 
sun  for  my  guide.  After  wandering  for  four  hours 
in  this  way,  I  came  upon  a  wagon-road,  which  trended 
to  a  valley,  and  far  in  the  distance  below  lay  a  town. 
Descending  towards  it,  totally  uncertain  of  what  it 
might  be,  to  my  unutterable  joy  I  at  last  met  a  man 
on  horseback. 

"  Where  is  Parley  Park  ?  "  I  asked.  "  Parley  Park  ! 
Why,  as  near  as  may  be,  it  is  right  over  your  horse's 


SNYDER  AND   HIS   FAMILIES.  1 19 

tail!"  "How  far  is  it?"  "Well,  about  twelve 
miles.  Turn  round,  keep  up  the  hill  with  me,  and  I 
will  show  you  where  to  turn  into  the  trail." 

Guided  by  clearer  directions  than  those  of  Mr. 
Brighton,  I  soon  left  my  companion,  and,  crossing  over 
Flagstaff  peak,  enjoyed  such  an  extensive  view  of 
Provo  Valley  and  Southern  Utah,  that  I  was  not  sorry 
for  all  my  long  deviation,  as  these  are  portions  of  the 
Territory  which  I  did  not  subsequently  visit. 

I  stood  now  like  Moses  on  Mount  Pisgah,  satisfied, 
like  him,  to  see  the  promised  land,  even  if  my  foot 
should  not  press  its  soil.  This  journal  would  be 
more  complete  if  it  touched  upon  all  points  of  Utah. 
Over  the  whole  Territory,  the  mountains,  canons,  and 
prairies  are  of  the  same  character,  and  probably  Provo, 
and  other  towns  far  away  on  the  plain  below  me,  are 
not  unlike  those  I  have  already  seen  and  propose  yet 
to  visit.  I  will  forgive  and  even  thank  Mr.  Brighton 
for  having  made  me  spend  nearly  a  day  on  horseback 
to  accomplish  twelve  miles,  that  I  might  see  them  in 
the  distance. 

Now  keeping  along  on  a  well-defined  trail,  I  reached 
the  ranch  of  Mr.  Snyder  at  two  o'clock,  and  dined. 

Snyder  keeps  a  semi-hotel.  He  was  away  from 
home — from  that  home,  I  mean,  for  Snyder  has  three 
ranches  and  three  families  ;  but  the  Mrs.  Snyder  of 
this  ranch,  who  has  half  a  dozen  children — what  the 


120  SNYDER'S  WELCOME  HOME. 

other  Mrs.  Snyders  may  have  I  do  not  know — pro- 
vided me  with  an  excellent  dinner. 

While  I  was  at  the  table,  Snydercame  to  this  home, 
fresh  from  the  visit  of  a  week  to  another  wife.  At 
the  sound  of  his  horse's  hoofs,  up  jumps  the  present 
Mrs.  S.,  lays  the  baby  in  the  cradle,  cries,  "  Here 
comes  father  !  "  and  rushes  out  to  fall  upon  his  neck, 
and  kisses  him.  Queer  people,  these  Mormons  ! 

After  dinner  I  rode  on  six  miles  farther  to  Kim- 
ball's,  passing  on  the  way  a  summer  encampment 
from  Fort  Douglas.  Captain  Ellis  had  pitched  his 
tents  in  a  romantic  glen,  and  it  was  a  pleasant  sight 
to  behold  some  ladies  playing  croquet  on  the  green 
sward,  the  wagons  drawn  up  in  military  order,  the 
soldiers  forming  for  evening  parade,  and  the  animals 
picketed  on  the  rich  grass. 

Passing  over  the  last  divide,  Parley  Park  lay  be- 
neath me.  It  is  well  named  a  park,  for  nature  has 
done  all  its  own  work  for  it  with  that  of  art  made  to 
her  hand. 

It  is  like  the  plateau  of  Brighton's,  only  vastly  en- 
larged. Mountains  are  all  around  a  meadow-plain  of 
five  thousand  acres  of  grass,  through  which  a  beauti- 
ful trout-stream  meanders  along.  Fronting  the  centre 
of  this  level  is  the  Kimball  Hotel,  the  favorite 
summer  retreat,  as  well  it  may  be,  of  the  people  of 
Salt  Lake,  who  have  the  leisure  and  the  means  to 


KIMB ALL'S   HOTEL.  121 

spend  a  few  days  or  weeks  in  this  invigorating  atmos- 
phere of  the  hills. 

The  landlord  of  the  hotel  is  a  son  of  the  late  Heber 
C.  Kimball,  whom  Artemus  Ward  particularized  as 
"the  most  married  man  .1  Utah."  His  descendants 
already  number  four  hundred  and  forty-nine.  His 
son,  "  Bill,"  whom  he  christened  William,  after  using 
up  all  the  Old  Testament  names,  is  more  moderate 
than  his  father  in  his  conjugality,  having  only  three 
wives.  As  he  resides  two-thirds  of  the  time  at  Parley 
Park,  and  the  other  third  of  it  at  Salt  Lake,  he  keeps 
two  wives  here  and  one  there. 

The  public  are  satisfied  with  this  arrangement,  for 
the  two  ladies  of  this  establishment  are  most  excel- 
lent housekeepers  and  cooks,  and  this  is  what  chiefly 
concerns  us.  Cleaner  linen  can  nowhere  be  found  on 
beds,  and  a  better  table  was  never  spread;  and  all 
this  comfort  and  luxury  is  to  be  had  for  the  very 
moderate  price  of  ten  dollars  per  week.  Mr.  Kimball 
is  also  a  large  farmer,  and  raises  a  great  deal  of  other 
stock  besides  the  family  kind. 

Mormonism  has  great  advantages  for  taking  up 
government  land.  No  man  can  pre-empt  more  than 
one  hundred  and  sixty  acres  for  himself;  but  each 
child  can  do  likewise,  and  thus  the  Kimball  family,  as 
they  increase,  are  becoming  the  owners  of  this  rich 
plain.  By  and  by  they  will  have  two  thousand  head 


122  EMIGRATION   CAfiON. 

of  cattle,  and  will  cut  two  thousand  tons  of  hay,  for 
which  the  City  of  Salt  Lake  will  afford  a  ready 
market. 

There  is  plenty  of  fishing  and  shooting  in  the 
neighborhood,  although  not  so  abundant  as  I  found  it 
at  the  north,  the  ground  being  more  ranged  by 
sportsmen.  Still  there  was  enough  to  afford  ample 
occupation  for  the  next  two  days  for  the  little  party 
of  friends  who  joined  us  from  town. 

On  Saturday  I  left  this  charming  spot,  and  rode  on 
for  twenty-five  miles  to  Salt  Lake,  avoiding  the  tra- 
velled and  more  level  road,  and  passing  down  through 
Emigration  Canon,  by  which  gate  the  first  band  of 
Mormon  settlers,  under  the  leadership  of  Brigham 
Young,  entered  upon  their  new  home  in  1847,  after 
their  long,  tedious,  patient  journey  of  four  months 
across  the  desert. 

And  now,  twenty-six  years  later,  I  was  riding  over 
a  good  macadamized  road,  which  led  me  out  upon 
fruitful  fields  into  the  view  of  a  large  and  thriving 
city,  over  the  same  route  by  which  they  arrived  at 
these  once  barren  plains. 

As  I  turned  around  each  succeeding  rocky  point,  I 
could  well  imagine  how  it  was  gazed  upon  by  them 
as  they  hoped  it  was  the  last,  and  when  the  last  was 
actually  reached  and  passed,  and  the  full  view  of  the 
valley  burst  upon  my  sight,  the  picture  of  that  de- 


SINCERITY   OF  THE   MORMONS.  12$ 

voted  band  was  as  clearly  present  to  me  as  if  it  had 
been  depicted  on  canvas  like  that  life-like  painting  of 
the  Western  emigrants  that  is  seen  in  the  Capitol  at 
Washington.  It  seemed  that  as  I  listened  I  might 
yet  catch  the  echo  of  their  glad  hosannas  ringing 
through  those  Rocky  Mountains  safely  passed  at  last ! 

I  believe  in  the  utter  absurdity  and  imposture  of 
the  Mormon  faith,  so  far  as  it  differs  from  the  recog- 
nized tenets  of  Christianity ;  but  I  believe  in  the  sin- 
cerity of  the  great  majority  of  its  adherents,  and  I 
want  no  better  proof  of  this  than  their  history. 

The  persecutions  endured  by  the  Israelites  at  the 
hands  of  the  Egyptians  were  as  nothing  in  com- 
parison with  those  suffered  by  the  Mormon  people  at 
the  hands  of  their  nominally  Christian  countrymen, 
who  drove  them  from  one  settlement  and  State  to 
another,  until  they  formed  a  resolution  to  put  them- 
selves, as  they  fondly  hoped,  forever  beyond  their 
reach. 

Brigham  Young,  with  all  his  prophetic  instinct, 
never  dreamed  that  they  could  be  molested  here. 
On  his  dreary  journey,  and  shortly  before  his  arrival, 
he  was  met  by  a  Mormon  missionary  returning  from 
California.  He  depicted  in  glowing  colors  the  beau- 
ties of  that  region,  its  lovely  climate,  its  fertile  soil, 
its  claim  to  be  what  it  has  since  so  amply  proved, 
a  second  paradise.  Brigham  listened  patiently  to 


124  ARRIVAL   OF  THE   MORMONS. 

his  report,  and  then  replied,  "  All  that  shows  that  it 
is  no  place  for  us — the  Gentiles  would  rout  us  out." 

He  had  never  yet  seen  the  Salt  Lake  Valley,  but 
he  knew  that  it  was  a  desert.  He  had  an  inspiration, 
however,  which  he  chose  to  call  a  "  revelation,"  that 
this  was  the  destination  of  his  people,  and  that  the 
Almighty  would  change  the  desert  to  a  garden  for 
them. 

It  must  be  remembered,  moreover,  that  at  this  time 
Utah  was  Mexican  Territory.  Once  settled  there, 
the  Mormons  would  owe  no  allegiance  to  the  United 
States  government,  and  as  to  the  Mexicans,  they  had 
no  fear  of  them.  In  their  eyes  they  were  merely 
Canaanites,  and  "the  sword  of  the  Lord  and  of 
Gideon "  would  be  the  arbiter  of  any  controversy 
with  them  that  they  might  have. 

The  "revelation"  given  to  Brigham  Young  desig- 
nated the  precise  spot  where  the  city  of  the  New 
Jerusalem  should  be  located.  As  they  came  out 
through  Emigration  Canon,  the  little  army  of  be- 
lievers turned  to  the  right,  obedient  to  the  direction 
of  their  leader,  and  marched  four  miles,  before  he 
cried  "Halt!"  Every  individual  came  to  a  stand- 
still. A  fervent  prayer  of  thanksgiving  to  Almighty 
God,  their  preserver,  was  offered,  and  ended  with  a 
loud  and  joyful  "  Amen  !  " 

After  this  act  of  faith  there  followed  immediately 


MORMON   DEVOTIONS.  12$ 

one  of  the  grandest  acts  of  works  on  record,  and  these 
two  great  ideas  of  faith  and  works  have  been  ever 
since  the  guiding  stars  of  their  eminently  practical 
religion. 

Before  a  moment's  rest  was  allowed  to  man  or 
beast,  other  than  the  time  occupied  by  the  prayer — 
before  a  mouthful  of  food  could  be  eaten,  the  animals 
were  unhitched  from  the  wagons  and  yoked  to  the 
ploughs,  the  furrows  were  turned,  an  irrigating  ditch 
was  dug,  the  seed  planted ;  and  then  they  rested  from 
their  labors,  and  now  their  works  do  follow  them. 

History  has  no  parallel  to  the  energy  and  perse- 
verance of  this  people.  They  were  nurtured  and 
made  robust  by  the  fillip  of  persecution,  so  that  when 
they  left  the  banks  of  the  Missouri  they  were  har- 
dened to  the  work  before  them. 

The  journey  of  Moses  and  the  Israelites,  even  with 
its  pillar  of  fire  before  them,  pales  into  insignificance 
compared  with  this.  Let  us  accept  our  own  revela- 
tion, while  we  ridicule  that  of  the  Mormons.  Then 
we  see  God  on  the  side  of  Israel,  tormenting  their 
persecutors  with  plague,  pestilence,  and  famine  ; 
opening  seas  and  rivers  for  them  that  they  might  pass 
dry-shod  ;  making  water  to  gush  from  the  rock  ;  rain- 
ing down  vegetable  and  animal  food  ;  helping  them 
when  they  were  too  lazy  to  help  themselves,  and 
fighting  their  battles  for  them;  they  all  the  time 


126  MORMON  SINCERITY. 

repining,  growling,  and  apostatizing,  and,  after  all, 
accomplishing  in  forty  years  what  they  should  have 
done  in  a  month. 

Look  now  at  these  Latter-Day  Saints  ! — not  only 
at  this  company  of  pioneers,  but  at  each  succeeding 
host ;  more  especially  the  hand-cart  expedition  of 
1856,  when  six  hundred  men,  women,  and  children 
started  from  Iowa,  in  July,  dragging  their  babies, 
their  property  and  provisions ;  crossing  the  Rocky 
Mountains  in  the  snows  of  November  ;  losing  two 
hundred  of  their  number  on  the  road  by  death  ;  yet 
never  murmuring,  but  every  morning  and  night 
thanking  the  Lord  who  had  brought  them  thus  far  on 
their  way. 

Did  not  He  know  their  sincerity,  it  must  have 
sounded  like  irony  in  his  ears  !  The  "  devil,"  we  are 
told,  "is  good  to  his  own."  Surely,  if  these  were 
his  children,  he  showed  his  kindness  strangely.  Ah  ! 
they  were  no  children  of  his  ;  but  they  were  ful- 
filling a  mission  of  the  same  Almighty  Father  who 
rules  the  universe  and  every  creature  therein  ;  who 
has  a  work  for  all  to  do,  the  object  of  which  we  shall 
better  know  by  and  by.  Till  that  time  comes,  we 
will  never  doubt  that  these  martyrs  of  religious  en- 
thusiasm suffered  in  a  cause  that  was  in  some  way 
acceptable  to  Him. 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

The  New  Railroad  to  Pioche. — Staging  to  the  Western  Mining  Dis- 
tricts. —  Great  Salt  Lake.  — Bathing. — Tooele.  —  Thunder- Storm.  — 
OpJdr  Canon. — A  Restaurant  du  Palais  Royal. — Some  of  the 
Mines. — Colonel  Kellcfs  Enterprise. — A  crazy  Miner. — Dry  Canon 

and  B  ing  ham  Cation  Mines. — A  respectable  Cemetery. Bingham 

Railroad. — Resemblance  to  Palestine. 

THE  Wasatch  range,  bounding  Salt  Lake  Valley 
on  the  east,  recently  traversed,  contains  the  first 
discovered  silver-mines  of  Utah.  But  the  Oquirrh  or 
Western  range,  likewise  running  north  and  south  on 
the  opposite  side  of  the  basin,  is  now  competing  with 
it  in  rich  production. 

The  description  already  given  of  Little  Cottonwood 
applies  in  many  respects  to  the  Canons  of  the  Western 
mountains.  The  scenery  is  alike  grand  and  impres- 
sive, and  the  mining-camps  embrace  the  same  pecu- 
liarities of  a  distinct  civilization  or  barbarism,  accord- 
ing as  the  reader's  option  may  define  such  a  condition 
of  society. 

The  "  Salt  Lake,  Sevier  Valley  and  Pioche  Rail- 
road "  is  another  illustration  of  the  enterprises  already 


128  RAILROADS. 

undertaken  and  rapidly  progressing  in  Utah.  This 
work  is  intended  to  open  some  of  the  most  important 
silver,  coal,  and  iron  mining,  as  well  as  the  rich  agri- 
cultural districts  in  the  western  and  southern  parts  of 
the  Territory,  of  which  I  shall  say  more  in  a  subse- 
quent chapter.  Like  the  Utah  "  Northern,"  "  Cen- 
tral," and  "  Southern,"  this  road  will  not  only  be  a 
good  investment  for  its  stockholders,  but  will  event- 
ually contribute  largely  to  the  profit  of  the  great  trunk 
lines  of  the  "  Union"  and  "  Central"  Pacific. 

The  whole  distance  from  Salt  Lake  City  to  the  point 
of  its  completion  will  be  three  hundred  and  thirty-six 
miles,  and  its  cost  is  estimated  at  less  than  six  millions 
of  dollars.  It  is  neither  an  exclusively  Mormon  nor 
a  Gentile  undertaking.  Its  chief  projector  is  H.  S. 
Jacobs,  Esq.,  who,  though  a  Gentile,  has  long  resided 
in  Salt  Lake  City.  He  and  his  eastern  associates  are 
working  harmoniously  with  the  Saints  for  the  develop- 
ment of  the  country,  irrespective  of  religious  preju- 
dices. What  wonderful  peacemakers  and  civilizers 
are  railroads  !  How  they  give  the  lie  to  that  party 
clamor  which,  in  the  name  of  philanthropy,  would  de- 
stroy the  prosperity  of  this  community  ! 

Since  I  passed  over  the  ground  about  to  be  de- 
scribed, twenty-two  miles  of  this  railroad  have  been 
finished  and  equipped.  The  stage-line  will  soon  be 
entirely  superseded. 


DRIVE  TO   OPHIR.  1 29 

We  drove  to  Ophir  on  the  stage-coach,  along  the 
line  of  the  new  railroad,  leaving  Salt  Lake  City  at  an 
early  hour  in  the  morning,  passing  through  a  well- 
cultivated  region  for  a  few  miles,  and  then  crossing 
the  sage-brush  desert  until  we  reached  the  northern 
limit  of  the  Oquirrh  Mountains,  where  the  Great  Salt 
Lake  washes  their  base.  A  road  has  been  cut  around 
the  cliff  at  this  point  with  much  ingenuity. 

We  were  now  in  another  valley — the  Tooele — 
bounded  still  by  another  range,  the  Ophir,  on  the 
west,  and  on  the  north  by  the  lake,  along  the  bor- 
ders of  which  our  road  now  lav.  A  fresh  northerly 
breeze  had  ruffled  its  surface,  the  rollers  were  combing 
and  dashing  their  spray  upon  the  beach  ;  the  salty 
breath  of  the  wind  was  on  our  faces,  and  altogether, 
with  the  sandy  plain  at  our  feet  and  the  northern  view 
bounded  by  the  horizon  of  the  waters,  the  illusion 
was  so  complete  that  it  was  difficult  to  believe  that  we 
were  not  upon  the  shores  of  the  ocean. 

Rocky  Point  is  a  favorite  place  of  summer  resort 
for  the  citizens  of  the  metropolis,  and  there  is,  to  all 
appearance,  a  well-kept  hotel  and  good  bathing  ac- 
commodation at  this  place.  A  steamer  of  300  tons, 
originally  intended  for  business  now  taken  away  by 
the  railroad,  makes  occasional  excursion  trips. 

Some  weeks  previously  I  embraced  the  opportunity 
of  the  Fourth-of-July  holiday  to  take  a  cruise.  Un~ 


130  BATHING   IN   THE   LAKE. 

fortunately  it  was  not  very  extended,  as  we  lost  our 
rudder  soon  after  starting,  and  so,  having  described  a 
great  many  small  circles,  were  obliged  to  return  with- 
out seeing  much  variety.  The  lake  extends  nearly 
one  hundred  miles  from  north  to  south,  with  an 
average  of  forty  miles  from  east  to  west.  It  is  so 
intensely  salt  that  nothing  excepting  a  sort  of  small 
winged  shrimp  can  live  in  it. 

For  bathing  it  is  perfectly  safe.  One  cannot  drown 
in  it.  The  water  is  so  dense  that  I  have  tried  in  vain 
to  reach  the  bottom,  where  the  depth  was  only  two 
fathoms.  On  coming  out,  the  body  is  so  completely 
encrusted  with  salt  that  the  sensation  is  like  that  which 
may  be  supposed  to  be  produced  from  rolling  in  net- 
tles. Fresh-water  ablution  after  a  bath  is  a  necessity. 

Nearly  half-way  across  the  valley,  at  a  distance  of 
ten  miles  from  either  range,  the  Oquirrh  and  the 
Ophir,  is  the  city  of  Tooele.  It  is  literally  an  oasis  in 
the  desert.  From  far  away  it  seems  like  a  little  green 
patch  of  grass.  As  we  approach  it  its  proportions 
are  enlarged,  and  when  we  enter  it  we  find  a  minia- 
ture Salt  Lake  City,  like  it  in  its  wide  streets,  with 
streams  of  water,  and  houses  and  gardens  on  each 
side,  and,  like  all  the  Mormon  cities,  exceedingly  quiet 
and  neat. 

While  we  were  changing  horses  I  strayed  into  the 
grounds  of  a  house  near  by.  The  proprietor  was 


OPHIR   CANON.  131 

an  Englishman,  the  lady — she  might  have  been  one  by 
herself,  or  one  of  many — was  a  rosy-cheeked  English- 
woman. They  gave  me  some  fine  peaches  and  plums, 
and  as  they  were  sociably  inclined,  they  gave  me  also 
some  of  their  religious  "  experience."  They  were 
fully  impressed  with  the  divine  character  of  what  they 
termed  their  "blessed  religion,"  and,  like  all  other 
Mormons,  they  had  the  most  implicit  faith  in  Brigham 
Young. 

A  few  miles  beyond,  we  came  to  the  small  town  of 
Stockton,  which  derives  its  subsistence  from  smelting 
the  ore  brought  to  it  from  the  mines.  After  experi- 
encing a  tremendous  thunder-storm  of  a  grandness  we 
could  not  but  admire,  although  by  it  we  were  soaked 
with  rain  and  pelted  with  hail  and  almost  blinded  by 
lightning,  we  were  right  glad  to  dry  our  clothes  at  the 
fire  of  the  hotel-kitchen,  and  to  abandon  our  temper- 
ance principles  at  the  bar. 

It  was  late  when  we  entered  the  narrow  Ophir 
Canon,  and  wound  up  its  steep  and  tortuous  ascent, 
with  perpendicular  precipices  of  two  thousand  feet  on 
either  side.  We  were  not  sorry  to  reach  a  wooden 
shanty,  which  in  reality  was  all  it  pretended  to  be  with  its 
French  sign,  in  this  wilderness,  "Cafe  et  Hotel  Restau- 
rant," kept  by  Monsieur  Simon.  He,  with  Madame 
Simon  and  the  little  belle-sceur  Elise,  were  fresh  from 
Paris,  and  were  trying  to  keep  up  Parisian  style  in  the 


132  THE   OP1IIR   MINKS. 

mountains  of  Utah,  menu,  white  apron,  white  cap  and 
all,  not  forgetting  what  can  never  be  had  out  of  France, 
excepting  at  the  hands  of  a  Frenchman,  a  good  cup 
of  coffee. 

On  the  following  day,  crossing  over  to  Dry  Canon 
with  a  guide,  I  ascended  the  mountains  and  travelled 
diligently  from  daylight  till  dark  like  a  chamois,  over 
the  ledges  and  steeps,  admiring  the  wonderfully  grand 
scenery,  and  looking  into  the  various  mines. 

Some  of  them  are  the  Tiger,  the  Silver  Chief,  the 
Zella,  the  Lion,  Defiance,  Sunny  Side,  Miner's  De- 
light, Hidden  Treasure,  Poor  Man's  Friend,  Utah 
Queen.  But  the  most  productive  and  most  celebra- 
ted are  the  Mono  and  Chicago. 

One  of  the  most  promising  of  the  new  investments 
is  the  "  Kelley  Consolidated  Mining  and  Smelting 
Company."  This  mine,  with  a  well-defined  vein  of 
six  feet,  has  a  shaft  and  three  tunnels  already  in  opera- 
tion, and  the  smelting  furnaces  are  about  commencing 
work.  It  is  principally  owned  and  managed  by  Col. 
Kelley,  a  New  York  gentleman  of  much  practical  ex- 
perience, who  is  fairly  counting  on  splendid  results. 

This  mine  was  discovered  several  years  ago  by  a 
poor  German  named  Hirsch.  He  worked  away  at  it, 
starving  himself  to  employ  necessary  assistance,  and 
then  selling  his  ore  to  develop  still  further  with  the 
proceeds.  At  last  he  sold  his  property  to  Col.  Kelley 


BINGHAM   CITY.  133 

for  a  very  high  price,  which  would  enable  him  to  live 
in  luxury  for  all  his  remaining  days. 

But  now  he  insists  that  the  little  hut,  half  stone,  half 
log,  in  which  he  has  lived  the  life  of  a  hermit  for  so 
many  winters  and  summers,  shall  remain  his  property, 
for  he  cannot  live  anywhere  else !  Here  then  he 
will  remain,  prospecting  for  another  mine.  He  has 
mining  upon  the  brain.  He  can  think  or  talk  of 
nothing  else.  Mines  are  the  idols  to  which  he  is  joined, 
and  he  prefers  to  be  let  alone. 

Coming  out  of  Ophir  Canon  and  pursuing  the  same 
route  by  which  we  had  entered  through  Tooele  Valley 
as  far  as  the  lake,  we  rounded  the  mountain  point  and 
kept  along  the  eastern  base  of  the  Oquirrh  range  until 
we  came  to  the  opening  of  Bingham  Canon. 

This  is  a  comparatively  new  mining  district,  bid- 
ding fair  to  rival  any  of  the  others  in  production  of 
large  quantities  of  ore.  The  quality  is  generally  not 
so  rich  as  in  the  Cottonwood  district,  but  this  is 
compensated  for  by  its  abundance.  The  average  assay 
may  be  calculated  at  forty  per  cent,  lead  and  forty 
ounces  of  silver  to'the  ton.  It  is  generally  considered 
that  this  percentage  of  lead  pays  all  expenses  of  what- 
ever kind  in  mining,  freight,  and  smelting  ;  and  thus 
that  all  the  silver  extracted  is  clear  profit. 

The  "  Last  Chance  "  is  one  of  the  most  productive 
mines,  paying  an  annual  dividend  of  twenty  per  cent. 


134  FAMILY  DIFFICULTY. 

on  $250,000,  the  sum  for  which  it  was  sold  ;  and  the 
"Croesus"  and  "Jerry"  in  the  same  neighborhood 
are  likely  soon  to  rival  it. 

The  village  of  Bingham,  five  miles  within  the  canon, 
is  remarkable  for  nothing  especially  different  from 
other  mining  camps  already  described,  excepting  that 
murders  are  rather  more  common.  A  few  days  before 
our  arrival  there  was  a  lively  family  difficulty,  in  which 
a  father  and  his  three  sons  were  killed.  Their  relations 
contemplate  shooting  the  murderer  when  they  catch 
him,  and  as  in  that  case  the  murderer's  friends  will 
"go  for"  them,  and  as  that  "going  for"  will  be 
avenged,  there  is  likely  to  be  a  diminution  of  the  popu- 
lation of  the  camp. 

Bingham  is  a  healthy  locality  as  to  climate,  but 
there  are  other  influences  which  make  life  quite  as 
insecure  as  where  yellow  fever  and  cholera  prevail. 
Whiskey  kills  a  great  many  people,  not  accounted 
for,  in  the  little  cemetery,  as  murdered.  The  number 
of  headstones  telling  of  violent  death  by  the  pistol 
and  knife  is  quite  appalling.  "  The  burying-ground 
is  getting  to  be  a  little  respectable  now.  There's  two 
fellers  in  there,"  said  my  informant,  "  who  died  a 
nat'ral  death — all  the  rest  of  'em  would  have  been 
alive  now  if  they'd  kept  clear  of  whiskey  and  lived 
peaceable." 

The   scenery   of    this   canon    is    very   picturesque, 


BINGHAM   RAILROAD.  135 

although  it  can  scarcely  compare  with  that  of  the 
valleys  of  the  opposite  range.  The  railroad  being 
graded  from  Bingham  Canon  to  Sandy  has  now  been 
completed  and  is  in  running  order.  It  is  on  the 
narrow-gauge  or  three-feet  pattern,  like  the  Utah 
Northern.  Its  heaviest  grade  where  it  mounts  the 
canon  is  230  feet  to  the  mile.  Had  it  been  desirable, 
the  distance  from  Bingham  to  Salt  Lake  City  might 
have  been  materially  shortened  ;  but  it  was  for  the 
advantage  of  the  mining  interest  to  have  it  intersect 
the  Utah  Southern  at  a  point  twelve  miles  south  of 
the  city  :  thus  the  mining  and  smelting  works  are 
brought  ^into  close  relations.  Its  entire  length-  is 
eighteen  miles,  and,  as  most  of  the  track  is  on  a  level 
plain,  the  cost  of  the  work  is  small.  Especially  is  it 
so,  in  comparison  with  the  large  business  reasonably 
anticipated.  The  company  was  organized  under  the 
laws  of  Utah  in  the  autumn  of  1872  ;  the  road  was 
commenced  in  the  spring  of  1873,  and  opened  for  busi- 
ness on  the  ist  of  December  last.  Its  present  equip- 
ment consists  of  two  locomotives  and  ninety-two  cars. 
The  whole  cost  of  the  road  and  rolling-stock  is  not 
far  from  $400,000. 

For  the  three  winter  months  $2 1,000  have  been  the 
gross  receipts,  and  of  course  a  large  and  increasing 
business  is  anticipated  in  the  summer  season. 

Bingham  Canon  has  this  advantage  over  Little  Cot- 


136  THE   NEW  JERUSALEM. 

tonwood  the  region  of  the  Emma  and  other  valuable 
mines  on  the  Wasatch  range,  that  the  operation  of 
the  mines  is  not  impeded  by  snow. 

The  entrance  of  the  canon  is  twenty-five  miles  from 
Salt  Lake  City.  Distances  are  so  deceptive  in  this 
rarefied  atmosphere,  that  on  emerging  at  the  plain  it 
seemed  that  only  a  few  miles  were  before  us  until  we 
should  reach  the  beautiful  city  so  clearly  distinguished 
nestling  under  the  Wasatch  Mountains. 

Surrounded  as  every  dwelling  is  by  garden-trees, 
the  appearance  was  rather  that  of  a  forest  dotted  here 
and  there  with  white  houses.  Certainly  Salt  Lake 
City  from  any  point  is  beautiful,  and  it  never  looked 
more  lovely  than  as  we  approached  it  on  this  bright 
September  afternoon. 

I  have  often  wondered  why  a  more  euphonious 
name  was  not  selected  by  its  founder.  He  has  called 
the  river  running  through  the  plains  the  Jordan, 
and  has  rechristened  many  other  localities  from  the 
Bible.  Why  did  he  not  call  the  capital  of  his  Zion 
the  New  Jerusalem  ?  He  might  well  have  named  the 
Utah  fresh-water  lake,  from  which  the  Jordan  takes  its 
rise  the  Sea  of  Galilee,  and  the  Great  Salt  Lake  into 
which  it  flows  the  Dead  Sea  ;  for  the  geographical 
similarity  is  exact.  Perhaps,  if  it  is  not  too  late,  he 
may  take  the  hint  even  from  an  unbelieving  Gentile. 


CHAPTER   XIV. 

The  Mormon  Religion — History  of  Joseph  Smith.  —  The  Book  of 
Mormon. — Mormon  Migrations. — Brigham  Young. — His  Enter- 
prises and  his  Character. 

THE  religion  of  the  "  Latter-Day  Saints  "  maybe 
defined  as  a  compound  of  Judaism  and  Christian- 
ity, with  additions  and  subtractions.  It  is  an  attempt 
to  roll  the  world  back  to  the  days  of  that  barbarism 
styled  "  primitive  simplicity,"  and  to  work  up  civiliza- 
tion from  the  Mosaic  basis  with  the  help  of  the  Gospel 
of  Christ,  arrogating  for  the  new  church  another  mo- 
nopoly of  the  Divine  protection. 

Since  the  Christian  era  many  false  prophets  have 
appeared  upon  the  stage,  Mahomet  the  most  success- 
ful of  them  all.  In  these  last  days  Joseph  Smith  has 
endeavored  to  emulate  him,  and,  like  him,  has  started 
his  new  religion  with  dreams,  adopting,  moreover, 
one  of  the  practical  doctrines  of  Mahometanism. 

The  history  of  the  first  Mormon  Apostle  was  de- 
veloped in  fanaticism,  and  culminated  in  imposture. 
In  1820,  Smith,  then  a  boy  of  fifteen  years  of  age, 
became  the  subject  of  a  religious  revival,  was  half- 


138  SMITH'S  REVELATION. 

crazed  with  solicitude  for  his  salvation,  and  in  one 
of  his  seasons  of  insane  excitement  actually  supposed 
himself  the  recipient  of  angelic  visits. 

He  was  doubtless  sincere  for  a  time,  but  afterwards 
concluded  to  make  the  reputation  of  a  prophet  that 
he  had  gained,  available  for  business  purposes.  In 
1823  this  precocious  youth  had  another  vision,  in 
which  he  was  directed  to  proceed  to  the  top  of  a  hill 
in  Ontario  County,  New  York,  where  he  would  find 
buried  a  box  of  golden  plates,  with  a  new  revelation 
engraved  upon  them.  He  went  as  divinely  directed, 
found  the  plates,  and  was  about  to  remove  them, 
when  the  angel  appeared  and  told  him  to  leave  them 
there  for  four  years,  and  then  to  come  and  take  them. 

Joseph  says  that  he  waited  patiently  until  the  "set 
time  "  came  round,  working  on  a  farm  and  getting 
married  to  his  first  wife.  When  this  set  time  had 
come  he  went  to  the  hill  again,  and  the  angel  was 
kind  enough  to  dig  up  the  plates  and  to  place  them 
in  his  hands. 

These  golden  slabs  were  inscribed  with  unknown 
characters,  but,  with  the  assistance  of  the  angel  and  a 
confederate,  Joseph  translated  them  into  the  English 
of  the  time  of  King  James,  in  which  language,  by- 
the-by,  all  Mormon  revelations  have  been  and  are 
still  given. 

I   asked  a  Mormon  gentleman,   who  should  be  a 


THE  ANGEL'S  ENGLISH.  139 

man  of  intelligence,  for  he  is  a  librarian  in  Salt 
Lake  City,  how  it  happened  that  the  angel's  English 
was  so  antique  ?  "Of  course,"  he  replied,  "  it  was 
natural  that  it  should  be  so.  That  is  the  kind  of  lan- 
guage in  which  God  revealed  himself  to  his  ancient 
people  !  "  I  remember  once  hearing  a  good  scrip- 
tural New  England  lady  trying  to  prove  her  favorite 
doctrines  of  original  sin  and  total  depravity  from  St. 
Paul's  assertion  that  "by  one  man's  disobedience 
many  were  made  sinners;"  and  when  I  ventured  to 
suggest  that  "  made  "  did  not  mean  created,  referring 
to  the  original  for  evidence,  she  cut  me  short  by  ex- 
claiming, "  I  don't  want  to  hear  anything  about  your 
Hebrew  or  Greek  ;  the  good  old  English  Bible  is  good 
enough  for  me  !  " 

Joe  Smith  was  well  aware  of  the  reverence  attached 
to  such  phrases  as  "  Verily,  verily,"  and  "Behold, 
it  came  to  pass."  The  translation  of  these  supposed 
plates  is  "The  Book  of  Mormon."  It  purports  to  be 
chiefly  a  history  of  the  lost  tribes  of  Israel,  who  are 
found  to  have  drifted  over  to  America  when  separated 
from  the  tribes  of  Judah,  and  it  is,  besides,  an  expo- 
sition of  the  new  doctrine  of  the  church. 

There  are  two  theories  accounting  for  this  produc- 
tion. One  is,  that  it  was  a  religious  novel  written 
for  his  own  amusement  by  a  retired  clergyman  named 
Solomon  Spalding,  of  which  Smith  the  prophet  be- 


140  PLAGIARISM   OR   CLAIRVOYANCE. 

came  feloniously  possessed  ;  and  the  other  is,  that 
Smith,  whose  mind  was  stored  with  Scripture  phrases, 
being  still  under  the  delusion  that  he  was  divinely 
inspired,  actually  wrote  and  dictated  the  book  in  a 
condition  of  clairvoyant  insanity. 

Without  any  pretence  of  clairvoyance  or  of  spirit- 
ual communication,  Mr.  Dickens  has  declared  that 
every  word  put  in  the  mouths  of  his  characters  was 
mysteriously  but  distinctly  heard  by  him.  In  such  a 
case  of  clairvoyant  manifestation  as  this,  Smith  may 
have  really  found  the  plates  as  he  professed  he  did, 
which  is  not  impossible,  similar  ancient  and  unde- 
ciphered  tablets  having  been  more  recently  discovered 
in  the  mounds  of  Ohio.  Although  it  is  very  nearly 
certain  that  Spalding  was  the  author  of  the  book,  yet, 
in  the  absence  of  positive  proof,  Joe  Smith  is  entitled 
to  the  benefit  of  this  construction. 

At  any  rate,  Smith  maintained  his  assertion  that  he 
had  received  the  plates  from  the  angel  till  the  day  of 
his  death,  and  imagined  himself  to  be  a  prophet  and 
a  martyr.  But  his  revelations  received  from  time  to 
time  suited  his  own  convenience  most  wonderfully. 

Polyg-amy  was  not  an  original  doctrine  of  Mormon- 
ism,  but  was  revealed  to  Smith  to  meet  some  difficul- 
ties of  a  social  character  with  which  he  found  himself 
embarrassed. 

The  "  Church  of  the  Latter-Day  Saints  "  was  organ- 


DEATH   OF  JOE   SMITH.  141 

ized  in  Fayette,  Seneca  County,  New  York,  April  6, 
1830,  and  consisted  of  six  members,  who  laid  their 
hands  upon  each  other  and  gave  themselves  the  gift 
of  the  Holy  Ghost.  A  new  revelation  commanded 
the  church  soon  afterwards,  to  remove  to  Kirtland, 
Ohio.  Thence  they  were  ordered  to  Missouri,  where 
Jackson  County  was  designated  as  the  promised  land. 
Here  they  suffered  all  manner  of  persecutions,  and 
were  finally  driven  out. 

They  took  refuge  in  Illinois,  where  they  founded 
the  city  of  Nauvoo.  They  had  scarcely  finished  their 
magnificent  temple  there,  when,  after  repeated  troubles 
with  their  neighbors,  in  which,  as  in  Missouri,  they 
were  undeniably  in  the  right,  they  were  finally  ex- 
pelled, the  prophet  and  his  brother  being  killed  by 
the  mob.  He  foretold  his  own  death,  and  whatever 
may  have  been  the  inconsistencies  of  his  life,  he  met 
his  end  heroically,  and  died  in  the  full  conviction  of 
his  divine  mission.  This  was  in  1844. 

Brigham  Young  became  his  successor,  and,  in  obe- 
dience to  the  order  of  the  murdered  prophet,  led  the 
Mormon  hosts,  when  driven  from  Nauvoo,  to  the  far 
West,  advancing  step  by  step  till  they  reached  Coun- 
cil Bluffs  on  the  Missouri  River,  and  thence  making 
their  great  exodus  to  Salt  Lake  Valley,  where,  as  has 
been  stated,  they  finally  arrived  on  the  24th  of  July, 
1847- 


142  BRIGHAM   YOUNG'S   CONVERSION. 

Joseph  Smith  was  a  half-crazed  boy  Methodist 
when  he  imagined  himself  to  be  divinely  inspired. 
Brigham  Young  was  in  the  prime  of  manhood  when 
at  the  age  of  thirty-two  he  determined  to  enlist  under 
the  banner  of  the  prophet.  He  was  a  sharp,  clear- 
headed Yankee.  He  originally  "  went  in  for  a  good 
thing,"  and  he  has  proved  himself  a  man  of  most 
consummate  tact  and  business  ability,  fertile  in  con- 
ception, ready  in  expedients,  and  successful  in  carrying 
out  almost  every  enterprise  he  has  undertaken. 

Joseph  Smith  was  regarded  by  his  followers  as  a 
prophet  of  the  Lord,  pure  and  simple,  and,  in  the 
earlier  part  of  his  career,  a  dispenser  of  heavenly 
mysteries  alone.  Brigham  Young,  who  is  wise  as 
a  serpent  if  not  quite  as  harmless  as  a  dove,  has  their 
confidence  not  only  in  everything  pertaining  to 
heaven  above,  but  on  the  earth  beneath. 

He  is  a  priest  and  king,  bishop  and  farmer,  minister 
and  manufacturer — theoretical  in  religion  and  practical 
in  all  the  affairs  of  life.  When  he  has  a  revelation  of 
a  new  doctrine,  the  people  believe  it.  When  he  coun- 
sels a  new  mode  of  irrigation,  they  dig  the  ditch. 
When  he  preaches  morality,  they  practise  it,  and  when 
he  wants  woollen-mills  and  railroads,  they  build  them. 

It  is  true  they  complain  of  the  burden  of  tithes, 
but  they  pay  or  apostatize.  Almost  all  the  apostacy 
can  be  traced  to  this  source,  and  it  is  wonderful  that 


BRIGHAM   YOUNG'S   CHARACTER.  143 

there  is  no  more,  and  that  despite  this  great  incen- 
tive to  rebel  against  his  authority,  this  authority  is  so 
little  questioned  by  nine-tenths  of  the  population  of 
Utah. 

There  is  about  him  a  certain  magnetism  of  person 
and  character  which  commands  respect  and  love  from 
all  classes  of  his  people,  notwithstanding  his  occa- 
sional coarseness  and  vulgarity.  He  is  a  man  of  very 
limited  education,  deficient  in  grammatical  speech  and 
orthography,  but  of  the  most  varied  information  on 
all  subjects  of  practical  importance.  He  is  a  close 
and  successful  student  of  human  nature,  and  does  not 
neglect  books. 

In  his  choice  and  excellent  library  I  saw  many  vol- 
umes of  history  and  political  economy,  of  English 
classics,  and  works  of  the  best  American  writers  ;  but  I 
looked  in  vain  for  Hebrew  and  Greek  literature,  to 
which,  although  it  is  pretended  that  he  sometimes 
"  speaks  in  unknown  tongues,"  he  has  not  directed  his 
attention. 

He  would  fain  have  isolated  Utah  from  the  rest  of 
the  world,  but  when  he  found  that  to  be  impossible, 
he  manfully  accepted  the  situation,  and  made  the 
world  pay  him  for  its  intrusion.  "  Let  jthe  Gentiles 
work  the  mines,"  he  tells  his  people,  "  they  are  uncer- 
tain investments  ;  but  we  will  build  railroads  to  carry 
coal,  lumber,  and  food  to  them,  and  to  transport  their 


144  BRIGHAM   YOUNG'S   PREACHING. 

ore,  and  we  will  raise  wheat  to  feed  them.  This  is 
certain  profit." 

He  has  established  a  co-operative  system  of  trade  un- 
equalled in  skilful  working  and  beneficial  results.  The 
headquarters  of  the  "  Zion's  Co-operative  Mercantile 
Institution,"  with  its  great  sign,  "  Holiness  to  the 
Lord,"  is  in  Salt  Lake  City,  and  its  branches  shoot 
out  into  every  settlement  of  the  Territory.  By  pru- 
dent and  honest  management  it  is  made  not  only  to 
afford  articles  of  every  description  more  cheaply  to  the 
people  at  large  than  they  can  be  purchased  elsewhere, 
but  to  pay  an  annual  dividend  to  the  stockholders  of 
fifteen  to  twenty  per  cent.  It  is  no  monopoly,  for 
single  shares  are  distributed  generally.  He  superin- 
tends it  himself,  as  he  likewise  looks  after  the  banking 
interests  of  the  church. 

While  his  promise  to  the  faithful  of  blessings  in  the 
other  world  are  of  an  extraordinary  and  doubtful  char- 
acter, he  is  evidently  instructing  them  how  they  can 
make  this  world  turn  to  their  advantage.  On  one 
Sunday  he  may  tell  them  how  they  can  get  a  greater 
"  exaltation"  in  heaven,  but  on  ten  Sundays  he  will 
tell  them  how  to  irrigate  and  drain  land,  harvest  crops, 

build  fences,   set   out    trees,   beautify  their   grounds, 

i 
raise  cattle,  saw  lumber,  and  manufacture  cloth ;  and 

this  is  the  character  of  the  sermons  most  frequently 
preached  by  the  clergy. 


BRIGHAM  YOUNG'S  REVELATIONS.  145 

I  am,  perhaps,  wrong  in  using  this  word.  The 
Mormons  have  no  clergy,  as  distinct  from  the  people. 
The  highest  apostle  among  them,  like  St.  Paul,  works 
at  his  trade.  It  would  be  a  novelty  to  see  a  Catholic 
or  an  Anglican  bishop  hoeing  his  corn  or  driving 
his  ox-team  ;  but  this  is  not  unusual  for  the  Mor- 
mon bishops,  and  Brigham  Young  has  set  them  the 
example. 

I  have  intimated  a  doubt  of  his  sincerity  in  first 
joining  the  church,  for  I  think  he  should  have  been 
too  shrewd  a  man  to  believe  in  the  miracles  or  divine 
mission  of  Joe  Smith  ;  but  however  that  may  be,  I  am 
half  inclined  to  think  that  he  has  convinced  himself 
that  he  is  inspired.  He  may  have  vivid  dreams,  which 
he  honestly  supposes  to  be  revelations.  It  must  be 
admitted,  however,  that  these  revelations  are,  like 
those  of  Smith,  very  convenient  and  well  adapted  to 
the  policy  of  the  occasion. 

In  Utah  he  is  generally  called  a  good  man.  Else- 
where he  is  almost  invariably  called  bad.  In  review- 
ing his  history  we  cannot  touch  upon  his  motives. 
These  are  known  only  to  God  and  to  himself,  but  he 
must  be  judged  by  his  acts  and  their  consequences. 
These  are  both  bad  and  good.  He  has  retaliated 
upon  his  enemies  by  treating  them  harshly  and  per- 
haps with  cruelty,  but  the  provocation  should  be  taken 
into  account.  On  the  other  hand,  he  has  done  much 


146     BRIGHAM  YOUNG  AS  A  RELIGIOUS   LEADER. 

good  for  his  own  people.  He  has  been  accused  of 
instigating,  if  not  of  absolutely  perpetrating,  brutal 
murders  in  years  past ;  but  there  is  no  warrant  for 
believing  this,  while  it  is  undoubtedly  true  that  he 
would  not  allow  the  interests  of  the  church  to  suffer 
by  bringing  the  offenders  to  justice. 

Is  he  an  out-and-out  hypocrite  ?  By  no  means. 
Is  he  always  sincere  ?  Facts  are  rather  adverse  to 
this  supposition.  Is  he  a  great  man  ?  Yes,  he  is  ; 
and  history  will  one  day  record  that  among  all  im- 
postors or  leaders  of  new  sects,  Brigham  Young 
has  been  one  of  the  most  successful,  if  not  in  pointing 
out  the  true  road  to  heaven,  at  least  in  heading  a  new 
civilization,  which,  with  all  its  errors  in  practice — and 
they  will  soon  disappear — has  drawn  together  tens  of 
thousands  of  people  and  made  them  happier  and  more 
prosperous  on  this  earth  than  they  ever  were  before. 


CHAPTER  XV. 

The  original  Confession  of  Faith. — Its  unfortunate  Article  Ninth. — 
Some  Doctrines  Harmless  and  some  Atrocious. — Baptism  and  Mar- 
riage for  the  Dead. — Strange  Ideas  of  the  Divine  Nature. — Blood 
''Atonement  "  now  Obsolete. 

OF  the  Mormon  sect  it  may  be  truly  said,  as  of 
every  other  Christian  organization,  and  of 
Christianity  itself,  that  "the  blood  of  the  Martyrs  is 
the  seed  of  the  Church."  If  Mormonism  had  been  left 
to  itself,  it  would  have  died  like  thousands  of  other 
wild  extravagances  that  have  cropped  out  in  the  ages, 
expiring  from  want  of  the  air  stirred  up  by  the  fan 
of  persecution. 

It  was  a  harmless  little  beast  in  its  infancy,  but  its 
enemies  evoked  the  spirit  of  the  devil  wherewith  to 
defend  itself. 

What  could  be  more  simple  and  inoffensive  than 
the  creed  promulgated  by  Joe  Smith  in  1842  ? 

1.  We  believe  in  God,  the  eternal  Father,  and  in 
His  Son,  Jesus  Christ,  and  in  the  Holy  Ghost. 

2.  We  believe  that  men  will  be  punished  for  their 
own  sins,  and  not  for  Adam's  transgression. 

3.  We  believe  that  through  the  atonement  of  Christ 


148  THE  MORMON   CREED. 

all  mankind  may  be  saved  by  obedience  to  the  laws 
and  ordinances  of  the  Gospel. 

4.  We    believe    that   these    ordinances    are  :     first, 
Faith  in  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ ;  second,  Repentance  ; 
third,    Baptism    by  immersion   for  the    remission  of 
sins  ;  fourth,  Laying  on  of  hands  for  the  gift  of  the 
Holy  Ghost. 

5.  We   believe  that  a  man  must  be  called  of  God 
by  "  prophecy  and  by  laying  on  of  hands  "  by  those 
who  are  in  authority  to  preach  the  Gospel,  and  ad- 
minister in  the  ordinances  thereof. 

6.  We  believe  in  the  same  organization  that  existed 
in  the  primitive  church,  viz.:  apostles,  prophets,  pas- 
tors, teachers,  evangelists,  etc.,  etc. 

7.  We  believe  in   the   gift   of  tongues,   prophecy, 
revelation,  visions,  healing,  interpretations  of  tongues, 
etc. 

8.  We  believe  the  Bible  to  be  the  word  of  God,  as 
far  as  it  is  translated  correctly.     We  also  believe  the 
Book  of  Mormon  to  be  the  word  of  God. 

9.  We  believe  all  that  God  has  revealed,  and  that 
He  does  now  reveal,  and  we  believe  that  He  will  yet 
reveal  many  great  and  important  things  pertaining  to 
the  Kingdom  of  God. 

10.  We  believe   in  the   literal   gathering  of  Israel 
and  of  the  restoration  of  the  Ten  Tribes  ;  that  Zion 
will  be   built  upon  this   continent  ;    that    Christ  will 
reign  personally  upon  the  earth,  and  that  the   earth 
will  be  renewed  and  receive  its  Paradisiac  glory. 

1 1 .  We  claim  the  privilege  of  worshipping  Almighty 
God  according  to  the  dictates  of  our  conscience,  and 
allow  all    men  the   same  privilege,  let  them  worship 
how,  where,  or  what  they  may. 

12.  We  believe  in  being  subject  to  kings,  presidents, 
rulers,   and  magistrates,   in    obeying,    honoring,  and 
sustaining  the  law. 

13.  We  believe  in  being  honest,  true,  chaste,  benev- 


ARTICLE  NINTH.  1 49 

olent,  virtuous,  and  in  doing  good  to  all  men  ;  in- 
deed we  may  say  that  we  follow  the  admonition  of 
Paul,  "  We  believe  all  things,  hope  all  things."  We 
have  endured  many  things,  and  hope  to  be  able  to 
endure  all  things.  If  there  is  anything  virtuous, 
lovely,  or  of  good  report  or  praiseworthy,  we  seek 
after  these  things.  JOSEPH  SMITH. 

Why,  even  the  Evangelical  Alliance,  that  refused  to 
spread  its  holy  skirts  over  Roman  Catholics,  because 
they  believe  too  much,  and  over  Unitarians  because 
they  believe  too  little,  could  scarcely  have  objected  to 
receive  the  Mormons  into  their  fold  ! 

The  ninth  article  is  the  only  one  which  really  means 
mischief  to  society.  This  has  opened  the  door  to  in- 
novations which  have  pushed  Mormonism  into  such  a 
remote  corner  of  Christ's  vineyard  that  it  is  unknown 
as  still  a  part  of  it  to  those  who  walk  in  its  beaten 
paths. 

In  accordance  with  the  faith  expressed  in  Article 
9,  "  Many  great  and  important  things  pertaining  to 
the  kingdom  of  God  "  have  been  since  revealed,  and 
there  is  still  room  for  more  revelations. 

Some  of  the  new  doctrines  are  harmless  enough, 
and  the  only  ones  which  really  clash  with  outside 
civilization,  and  come  in  contact  with  the  laws  of 
the  land,  are  those  of  "  blood-atonement  "  and  poly- 
gamy. 

One  of  the  most  absurd — on  which  I  heard  a  most 


ISO  BAPTISM  FOR  THE  DEAD. 

elaborate  sermon  preached — is  that  of  "baptism  for 
the  dead."  The  text  was  1st  Corinthians,  xv.  29  : 
"  Else  what  shall  they  do,  which  are  baptized  for  the 
dead,  if  the  dead  rise  not  at  all  ?  Why,  are  they  then 
baptized  for  the  dead  ?  " 

As  this  text  has  always  been  a  puzzle  for  theologians 
of  every  stripe,  it  was  for  the  Mormons  to  have  a 
"revelation"  which  should  unravel  it.  So  it  was 
revealed  that  all  baptisms  since  the  time  of  the 
apostles  until  the  advent  of  Joe  Smith  being  null  and 
void,  the  only  way  in  which  the  intervening  genera- 
tions could  inherit  salvation  is  by  the  proxy  baptism 
of  their  descendants. 

Devout  Mormons  accordingly  are  critical  students 
of  genealogy,  hunting  up  their  ancestors  as  far  back 
as  possible,  and  getting  repeatedly  immersed  to  save 
their  souls. 

Alas,  how  few  can  trace  beyond  their  grandparents  ! 
Many  cannot  go  into  antiquity  beyond  their  fathers, 
and  there  are  unfortunate  people  who  cannot  look 
backwards  even  so  far  as  that.  At  best,  some  proud 
Briton  is  able  to  prove  that  his  progenitors  "  came 
over  with  William  the  Conqueror." 

In  such  a  family  an  extraordinary  number  of  souls 
may  be  rescued  from  purgatory  by  the  repeated  im- 
mersions of  their  descendants.  But  even  in  these 
cases  the  intervening  generations  for  many  hundred 


MARRIAGE  FOR  THE  DEAD.  !$! 

years  must  perish.  How  much  more  sad  is  the  fate 
of  the  great  average  of  Mormon  ancestry  ! 

The  next  doctrine  in  the  order  of  absurdity,  and 
one  closely  allied  to  the  foregoing,  is  that  of  proxy- 
marriage  for  the  dead.  The  marriage  ceremony, 
since  the  days  of  the  apostles,  having  been  performed 
by  priests  who  had  not  received  the  proper  "  laying- 
on  of  hands,"  is  considered  invalid,  and  consequently 
all  the  progeny  of  the  people  so  united  is  illegitimate 
in  the  eye  of  Heaven. 

But  this  reproach  is  to  be  taken  away  by  a  process 
somewhat  similar  to  the  baptism  for  the  dead.  The 
Mormon  of  the  present  is  to  stand  up  and  be  married 
for  his  ancestors,  and  thus  make  their  marriages  legal. 
The  confused  condition  of  society  which  has  hereto- 
fore existed  in  the  spirit-world  will  be  brought  into 
order.  Husbands  and  wives  who  have  been  separa- 
ted for  fifteen  or  sixteen  centuries  will  be  reunited, 
and  will  again  beget  children  in  heaven  ;  for  it  is  a 
Mormon  tenet  that  marriages  contracted  by  Latter- 
Day  Saints  on  earth,  or  those  thus  legalized  above, 
are  eternally  continuous — that  men  and  women  there 
have  the  same  flesh  and  blood  of  which  they  are  here 
made,  and  are  possessed  of  the  same  animal  natures. 

Consequently  the  propagation  of  the  human  race 
will  be  continued,  and  as  myriads  of  new  beings  are 
thus  called  into  existence,  new  worlds  upon  worlds 


152  MORMON   IDEA   OF   GOD. 

will  be  created  for  their  occupation,  and  this  repro- 
duction of  men  and  worlds  will  continue  throughout 
eternity. 

There  are  innumerable  vagaries  besides  these  into 
which  run  the  crazy  imaginations  of  the  prophets,  in- 
duced by  dreams,  begotten  perhaps  by  indigestion, 
but  which  they  call  visions  or  revelations. 

Many  of  their  doctrines  are  so  materialistic  that 
they  seem  blasphemous  to  us.  Founding  their  belief 
on  the  declaration  of  the  Almighty  that  He  would 
make  men  "  after  His  own  image,"  they  say  that 
the  great  First  Cause  is  Himself  a  being  of  flesh  and 
blood  ;  so  is  Christ,  and  so  is  the  Holy  Ghost ;  so  are 
all  the  Angels,  and  so  are  all  the  redeemed  among 
men. 

"  God,"  they  say,  was  literally  "  the  father  of  our 
Lord  Jesus  Christ."  Christ  himself  was,  although  a 
divine  teing,  a  married  man — and  Martha  and  Mary 
were  His  wives  because  l<  He  loved  them  " — and  He 
must  have  had  children  ;  "for  who  shall  declare  His 
generation  ?  " 

These  and  other  wild  extravagances  are  the  results 
of  that  pernicious  article  ninth  of  Joe  Smith's  creed, 
which  allows  future  revelations  to  instil  new  doctrines. 
The  Book  of  Mormon,  chiefly  purporting  to  be  a 
history,  does  not  authorize  them.  They  are  all 
modern  improvements. 


BLOOD- ATONEMENT.  153 

Now,  I  do  not  suppose  that  it  is  of  the  least  possi- 
ble consequence  to  other  people  whether  the  Mor- 
mons continue  to  believe  or  renounce  them.  It  is 
no  man's  business  what  another  man  believes,  so 
long  as  that  belief  is  not  practically  injurious  to  so- 
ciety. The  only  thing  which  concerns  us  is  that  the 
life  and  property  of  every  man,  woman,  and  child, 
so  far  as  the  laws  of  the  United  States  can  control 
them,  shall  be  as  secure  in  Utah  as  in  any  other  State 
or  Territory  of  the  Union, — and  they  are. 
.  The  "blood-atonement"  is  no  more  advocated  as 
it  once  was  in  the  Mormon  pulpit.  When  it  was 
preached  and  practised  to  such  a  fearful  extent  as  for- 
merly, it  was  a  barbarism  worse  than  slavery  or  poly- 
gamy. No  man's  life  was  safe  under  its  rule.  It  was 
held  justifiable  to  slay  an  apostate — not,  remember, 
from  revenge,  but  for  the  good  of  his  own  soul ! 
Nay,  more,  apostates  who  desired  to  return  to  the 
church,  and  others  who  had  committed  deadly  offen- 
ces, often  had  upon  their  consciences  such  weights  of 
unforgiven  sin,  that  despairing  of  heaven  without  the 
"  remission  by  the  shedding  of  blood,"  they  have  sur- 
rendered themselves  to  be  sacrificed  by  their  friends  ; 
and  these  wretched  fanatics  have  murdered  their 
brothers  to  save  their  souls  ! 

A  most  horrible,  and  I  fear  too  true  a  story,  is  told 
of  a  refined  and  beautiful  woman  in  Salt  Lake  City 
7* 


154  GAINING  AN 

who  had  been  unfaithful  to  her  husband,  and  who 
came  to  him  confessing  her  sin,  obtained  his  forgive- 
ness, gave  and  received  a  farewell  kiss,  and  then  he 
coolly  cut  her  throat  in  order  that  the  blood-atone- 
ment might  procure  for  her  "  an  exaltation,"  and 
that  they  might  be  again  united  in  heaven  ! 

Fortunately,  this  horrible  doctrine,  having  escaped 
the  notice  of  politicians  and  newspapers  in  their 
attention  to  polygamy,  is  dying  a  natural  death.  In 
years  gone  by  it  has  been  the  instigator  of  great 
wrong  and  suffering. 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

The  Mountain  Meadows  Massacre.  —  The  Battle  with  the  Morrisites,  — 
"  Let  us  have  peace  " 


Mormon  nature,  like  that  of  a  -hound  which 
has  once  tasted  blood,  has  been  on  occasions 
ferocious.  The  "Mountain  Meadows  Massacre  "  of 
1857  is  one  of  tne  saddest  recorded  instances  of  bar- 
barous fanaticism. 

A  company  of  emigrants  of  one  hundred  and 
twenty  men,  women,  and  children,  on  their  way  to 
California,  were  passing  through  Utah.  Heretofore, 
and  generally  afterwards,  the  emigrants  were  kindly 
treated  by  the  Mormons,  whose  interest  it  was  to  ex- 
change with  them  provisions  for  money  and  articles 
of  trade.  But  in  this  case,  merely  because  it  was 
conjectured  that  among  their  number  there  were  two 
or  three  individuals  who  had  persecuted  the  Saints 
while  they  were  settled  in  Missouri,  vengeance  was 
taken  on  the  whole  company. 

Brigham  Young  then  held  the  commission  of 
Governor  from  the  President  of  the  United  States. 


156  THE  MASSACRE. 

0 

It  is  said,  and  I  do  not  know  that  it  has  been  denied 
by  him,  that  he  sent  orders  to  all  the  settlements  to 
\vithhold  supplies  from  this  company,  and  to  have  no 
intercourse  with  them  whatever.  If  this  be  true,  it 
should  have  been  the  cause  of  his  instant  removal 
from  office  ;  for  it  was  equivalent  to  an  attempt  to 
starve  them,  and  was  in  any  point  of  view  a  criminal 
offence  in  an  officer  of  the  government. 

After  unsuccessful  attempts  to  procure  provisions, 
the  company  moved  on  to  the  West ;  but  before  they 
had  got  beyond  the  confines  of  Utah,  they  were  at- 
tacked by  a  large  force  of  Indians  and  Mormons 
disguised  as  Indians,  and  every  individual,  with  the 
exception  of  seventeen  little  children,  was  murdered 
in  cold  blood  ! 

It  is  scarcely  pretended  that  Brigham  Young  gave 
the  order  for  this  massacre,  but  it  is  a  fact  that  he 
took  no  steps  to  bring  the  perpetrators  to  punishment. 
The  band  of  murderers  was  undoubtedly  made  up  of 
savages,  thieves,  and  zealots,  and  the  crime  may  be 
imputed  to  them  all.  But  no  one  can  deny  that  Mor- 
monism  is  entitled  to  its  share.  This  is  the  most 
horrid  story  in  all  the  annals  of  Utah. 

Next  in  order  is  the  butchery  of  the  Morrisites  in 
1862.  Morris  was  a  fanatic  who  had  the  audacity  to 
have  revelations  at  variance  with  those  given  by  the 
Lord  to  Brigham  Young.  He  was  instructed  by  the 


MURDER  OF  THE   MORRISITES.  157 

Lord  to  warn  Brigham  himself  that  he  was  going  to 
too  great  an  excess  in  matrimony. 

The  prophet,  of  course,  did  not  credit  the  divine 
mission  of  Morris,  nor  did  he  like  to  be  instructed  by 
him  ;  but  he  treated  him  with  sublime  indifference. 
At  last  Morris,  growing  bold,  rendered  himself  ame- 
nable to  the  civil  law,  and,  after  many  disputes,  he  and 
his  followers  took  up  arms  and  entrenched  themselves 
in  their  fortified  settlement. 

Here  they  were  attacked  by  the  Mormon  forces, 
and  their  surrender  demanded.  Retiring  into  their 
"  bowery,"  the  summer  meeting-house  in  general  use, 
they  commenced  praying  to  the  Lord  for  counsel. 
Then  the  Mormons  fired  on  them,  killing  several 
persons  and  severely  wounding  others.  Among  them 
was  a  little  girl  whom  I  afterwards  met  at  Soda  Springs. 
She  is  now  a  married  woman,  and  her  scarred  face 
is  a  memorial  of  that  day.  From  herself  and  her  hus- 
band, who  was  also  present,  I  received  this  account. 

The  men  rushed  to  their  arms,  and  defended 
themselves,  their  families,  and  their  property  for  three 
days,  when  their  ammunition  was  exhausted.  Then, 
under  the  protection  of  a  white  flag,  they  surrendered 
and  Burton,  the  leader  of  the  attacking  party,  riding 
up  to  Morris,  shot  him  dead,  and  when  two  women 
thereupon  called  him  a  bloodthirsty  wretch,  this 
modern  Claverhouse  shot  them  dead  likewise  !  Thus 


158  AN   END   OF  THESE  ATROCITIES. 

did  he  make  a  "  blood-atonement"  for  the  wretched 
Morrisites  and  saved  their  souls  ! 

Happily,  these  atrocities  are  things  of  the  past. 
They  proceeded  from  a  curious  mixture  of  human 
passion  and  religious  fanaticism,  superinduced  by  re- 
membrance of  the  persecutions  which  they  them- 
selves had  suffered.  "  Vengeance  is  mine,  saith  the 
Lord,"  but  the  Mormons,  supposing  that  they,  like 
the  Israelites,  were  his  peculiar  people,  considered 
themselves  deputed  by  him  to  carry  out  his  behests. 
In  their  view,  all  who  interfered  with  them  were 
Canaanites,  Jebusites,  Hittites,  and  Amalekites,  and 
if  Joshua  and  the  armies  of  Israel  smote  these  trouble- 
some neighbors  by  tens  of  thousands  at  a  time,  they 
really  did  not  think  they  had  done  anything  wrong  in 
killing  a  few  Gentiles  and  heretics,  especially  when— 
what  never  entered  into  Joshua's  plans — their  souls 
were  to  be  saved  by  "  the  shedding  of  -blood  !  " 

I  do  not  remember  the  name  of  the  Federal  officer 
to  whom  some  deputation  recently  came  with  a  long 
string  of  grievances  and  an  enumeration  of  outrages 
committed  by  the  Mormons.  "  Have  any  of  these 
things  been  done  within  a  year  ?  "  he  asked.  "  No." 
"Within  two,  three,  four,  or  five  years?"  "  No." 
"  Well,"  he  replied,  "  if  they  have  kept  the  peace  so 
long,  we  can  trust  them  now  without  looking  into  the 
past." 


CHAPTER  XVII. 

Polygamy. — Orson  Prates  Discourse  on  Marriage. — Mormon  Argu- 
ments in  favor  of  Polygamy. 

THE  bete  noir  now  agitating  the  public  mind  is  poly- 
gamy, which  is  still  prevalent  in  Utah,  although 
it  does  not  exist  to  the  extent  generally  supposed. 
Probably  through  the  territory  one  man  out  of  five  or 
six  may  have  more  than  one  wife.  In  some  settle- 
ments a  polygamic  family  cannot  be  found  at  all. 

When,  as  is  seen  by  the  last  census,  there  are  more 
males  than  females  in  the  Territory,  it  must  be  admit- 
ted that  the  natural  tendencies  are  against  it. 

It  is  well  enough  to  make  a  distinction,  which  is  not 
always  allowed,  between  sin  and  crime.  If  I  remember 
aright  my  old  Assembly's  Catechism,  "  Sin  is  any 
want  of  conformity  to,  or  transgression  of,  the  Law  of 
God."  Now  the  Law  of  God  is  imprinted  differently 
on  different  consciences  ;  whereas  crime,  which  is  an  of- 
fence against  the  law  of  the  land,  is  printed  clearly  and 
distinctly,  so  that  the  characters  are  legible  to  all  alike. 
Polygamy  to  those  of  us  who  pin  our  faith  on  the  New 
Testament  is  a  sin ;  to  the  Latter-Day  Saints,  who 


160  WHAT  IS   SIN? 

irmgine  their  church  a  reproduction  of  Judaism  to  a 

great  extent,    and  who    consequently   rely  quite   as 

• 
much  on  the  Old  Testament  as  on  the  New,  it  may  be 

no  sin,  but  for  them  as  well  as  for  us  it  is.  a  crime, 
because  bigamy  is  an  offence  against  the  common 
law. 

"  Sin,"  says  Shenstone,  "  does  not  consist  in  any 
deviation  from  received  opinion  ;  it  does  not  depend 
upon  the  understanding,  but  the  will.  Now,  if  it  ap- 
pear that  a  man's  opinion  has  happened  to  misplace 
his  duty,  and  this  opinion  has  not  been  owing  to  any 
vicious  desire  of  indulging  his  appetites — in  short,  if 
his  own  reason,  liable  to  err,  has  biased  his  will,  rather 
than  his  will  contributed  to  bias  and  deprave  his 
reason,  he  will  perhaps  appear  guilty  before  none  be- 
side an  earthly  tribunal."  I  commend  the  casuistry 
of  this  old  essayist  to  the  candid  consideration  of  my 
Mormon  friends.  If  any  one  of  them  can  truly  say 
that  he  is  a  polygamist  not  "owing  to  any  vicious 
desire  of  indulging  his  appetites,"  then  he  is  merely 
a  criminal,  not  a  sinner. 

Orson  Pratt  preached  a  discourse  on  marriage  while 
I  was  at  Salt  Lake,  and  fortunately  on  that  day  I 
happened  to  be  present  at  the  Tabernacle.  This 
apostle  is  the  most  eloquent  of  all  the  brotherhood. 
He  is  a  man  of  fine  appearance  and  of  such  a  logical 
turn  of  mind  that  he  was  selected  to  enter  the  lists 


ORSON  PRATT'S   LOGIC.  l6l 

against  the  Rev.  Dr.  Newman  when  he  came  to  Salt 
Lake  for  the  purpose  of  showing  the  Mormons  the 
error  of  their  ways. 

In  this  sermon  he  laid  down  these  propositions  : 
"  Baptism  is  a  religious  sacrament ;  marriage  is  a  re- 
ligious sacrament.  Congress  will  not  pretend  to 
legislate  for  baptism.  It  will  not  ordain  how  a  man 
shall  be  baptized,  whether  he  shall  be  sprinkled  or 
immersed,  or  how  much  he  shall  be  sprinkled  or  im- 
mersed. What  right,  then,  has  Congress  to  legislate 
about  marriage  ?  What  right  has  it  to  say  how  we 
shall  be  married,  or  how  much  we  shall  be  married  ?  " 

He  then  went  on  to  the  threadbare  argument  of 
patriarchal  polygamy,  showing  how  it  was  practised 
by  those  holy  men  who  are  supposed  to  have  been 
especial  favorites  with  the  Almighty. 

"Now,"  said  he,  "  I  will  suppose  myself  to  be  a 
Gentile,  and  at  my  death  in  some  way  I  have  attained 
heaven — the  heaven  all  Christians  desire  when  they 
talk  of '  sitting  down  with  Abraham  and  Isaac  and 
Jacob  in  the  Kingdom  of  God.'  Well,  the  angel 
opens  for  me  one  of  the  pearly  gates  of  Paradise,  and 
I  am  about  to  walk  in  and  take  my  place,  when  my 
eye  rests  upon  Jacob  sitting  there  with  his  four  wives, 
Leah,  Rachel,  Bilhah,  and  Zilpah,  with  all  their  chil- 
dren. I  draw  back  in  disgust,  and  tell  the  angel  that  I 
cannot  sit  down  near  that  old  polygamist ! 


1 62  LITERAL  SCRIPTURE. 

"Well,  the  angel  kindly  shows  me  in  at  another  gate. 
But  there  I  see  David,  '  the  man  after  God's  own 
heart/  and  Solomon,  the  man  whom  He  endowed 
with  celestial  wisdom  ;  I  see  them  with  crowds  of  wives 
and  hundreds  of  children.  '  Worse  and  worse,'  I  tell 
the  angel ;  *  I  won't  go  in  there.  Is  there  no  other 
place  for  me  ?  ' 

"  '  Oh  yes,'  replies  my  divine  conductor,  '  there  is 
plenty  of  room  for  you  outside,  "  for  without  are  dogs, 
and  sorcerers,  and  whoremongers,  and  murderers,  and 
idolaters,  and  whosoever  loveth  and  maketh  a  lie." 
I  think  that  is  the  place  that  will  just  suit  such  par- 
ticular people  as  you  ! '  And  so  I  am  obliged  to  put 
up  with  the  society  of  God's  favorites,  or  with  that 
of  the  devil's  imps  !  " 

"What  do  you  think  of  the  sermon?"  asked  a 
Mormon  gentleman,  as  we  walked  home  from  the 
Tabernacle.  "  Wasn't  it  all  scriptural  ?  " 

"  Yes,"  I  replied,  "  it  was  ;  and  so  if  Mr.  Pratt  had 
told  you  to  sacrifice  your  son,  as  Abraham  proposed 
to  do,  or  to  immolate  your  daughter,  as  Jephtha  actu- 
ally did,  would  you  feel  justified  in  obeying  ?  "  "  Yes, 
I  suppose  so,"  he  replied,  after  a  little  hesitation,  "  if 
it's  Scripture."  "Well,  it  is  Scripture,"  I  answered — 
"  Old  Testament  Scripture — good  enough  Scripture 
for  those  times,  but  which  will  not  stand  the  test  of 
modern  civilization.  If  Abraham  lived  in  these  days, 


MERIT   CLAIMED   FOR   POLYGAMY.  163 

and  sharpened  his  knife  to  slay  his  son,  we  would  put 
him  in  a  kinatic  asylum ;  and  as  to  Jephtha,  we  would 
hang  him — if  the  jury  did  not  disagree,  or  find  him 
guilty  of  forgery  or  petit  larceny.  Just  so  with  your 
polygamy.  The  law  of  the  land  is  against  it.  Any- 
where else  you  would  be  convicted  of  bigamy.  Only 
here,  fortunately  for  you,  no  jury  would  bring  in  such 
a  verdict." 

Rev.  Dr.  Newman,  and  all  such  men,  make  a  great 
mistake  in  discussing  polygamy  on  its  religious  merits, 
unless  they  are  willing  to  throw  the  Old  Testament 
overboard  altogether — at  least  that  part  of  it  which 
they  cannot  disprove. 

While  advocating  its  abolition  as  soon  as  natural 
causes  will  bring  it  about,  without  detriment  to  the 
happiness  and  welfare  of  families,  the  good  of  society, 
and  the  peace  of  the  country,  I  am  forced  to  admit 
that  its  consequences  are  not  altogether  so  horrible 
as  they  are  often  represented  to  be. 

There  is  nothing  so  good  that  it  may  not  be  abused, 
neither  is  there  anything  so  bad  that  it  may  not  be  of 
some  use.  Polygamy  is  surely  bad  enough,  but  the 
Mormons  claim  for  it  this  merit :  it  annihilates  what  is 
called  the  "  social  evil,"  by  making  comparatively 
respectable  women  of  girls  who  might  otherwise  be 
prostitutes.  This  vice,  excepting  in  communities 
largely  composed  of  Gentiles,  does  not  exist  in  Utah, 


1 64  MR.    AND   MRS.    STENHOUSE. 

• 
and  even  there  it  is  kept  down  by  Mormon  territorial 

and  municipal  law. 

The  women  themselves  are  not  averse  to  polygamy. 
Among  the  working  classes  in  the  country  they  say  it 
promotes  a  division  of  labor.  The  Utah  farmer's 
wives  do  not  have  the  over-worked  air  of  the  women 
of  our  country  districts,  who  are  obliged  singly  to 
bear  all  the  children  and  to  do  all  the  work  of  the 
family. 

And  yet  Mrs.  Stenhouse  would  have  us  understand 
that  the  doctrine  is  universally  execrated  by  her  sex. 
Doubtless  there  are  many  women  who  are  living  in  its 
practice  with  continual  abhorrence  and  disgust.  But 
it  must  be  remembered  that  Mrs.  Stenhouse  and  her 
husband  are  apostates.  Like  all  apostates,  they  are  in- 
clined to  unmeritedly  abuse  the  faith  they  once  pro- 
fessed. Mr.  and  Mrs.  Stenhouse  are  regarded  in  Salt 
Lake  City  with  aversion  alike  by  Gentiles  and  Mormons. 
By  their  own  confession  they  believed  in  the  divine 
revelation  of  Mormonism,  polygamy  and  all,  with  very 
little  scruple  or  hesitation,  until  Brigham  Young  gave 
them  an  order  to  remove  to  Ogden  for  the  benefit 
of  the  church,  and  thus  to  sacrifice  a  lucrative  busi- 
ness. 

Then  all  at  once  their  eyes  became  opened  to  th  2 
enormities  of  a  religion  they  had  professed  and 
practised  for  so  manv  years.  They  found  that  they 


LADIES   FAVOR  POLYGAMY.  165 

• 
could  gain  more   money  by  abandoning  and  vilifying 

it  than  by  remaining  its  disciples.  They  have  proved 
that  they  were  either  insincere  throughout  all  their 
Mormon  experience,  or  that  they  are  insincere  now. 

I  was  astonished  to  hear  polygamy  advocated  by 
ladies  of  education  and  refinement,  among  them  a 
school-teacher  who  strongly  favored  it,  perhaps  be- 
cause she  was  no  longer  young.  At  a  hotel  where  I 
was  staying  I  met  a  young  married  lady  of  one  of 
the  first  families  of  Salt  Lake.  Two  of  her  intimate 
friends  were  with  her.  One  day,  when  they  were  out 
of  the  room,  she  asked  me,  "  What  do  you  think  of 
A ?"  "  She  is  a  charming  girl,"  I  replied.  "In- 
deed she  is,"  exclaimed  Mrs.  B .  "  I  do  wish 

B (her  husband)  would  marry  her.  I  should  so 

like  to  have  her  with  me  all  the  time  !  " 

The  Mormon  ladies  believe  that  in  the  other  world 
a  married  woman  arrives  at  a  higher  sphere  than  an 
unmarried  one,  and  that  one  who  is  willing  that  her  hus- 
band should  have  another  wife  has  a  still  higher  place. 
The  men  share  in  the  same  belief,  and  think  that  the 
more  wives  they  have  the  happier  they  will  be  in  the 
future. 

I  know  a  bishop  who  said  that  he  really  did  not 
want  to  take  a  second  wife,  and  his  wife  did  not  wish 
him  to  marry  again,  until  they  both  prayed  often  and 
fervently  over  it,  and  at  last  became  convinced  that 


1 66  A  CONSCIENTIOUS  BISHOP. 

their  eternal  welfare  would  be  promoted  by  the 
process,  and  then  they  concluded  to  have  another 
woman  in  the  family.  I  noticed,  however,  that  the 
conscientious  bishop  mitigated  his  reluctance  by  select- 
ing a  young  and  pretty  girl  for  his  self-sacrifice  and 
spiritual  good. 

Strange  as  it  may  seem,  the  arrangement  appears 
to  work  better  when  the  wives  are  sisters.  It  is  not 
uncommon  for  a  man  to  marry  several  of  them.  Per- 
haps it  is  for  the  sake  of  having  only  one  mother-in- 
law.  Unless  a  visitor  takes  up  his  residence  in  a 
family  for  some  time,  he  cannot  be  a  judge  of  its 
domestic  happiness  or  misery.  Even  when  there  is 
only  one  husband  and  one  wife,  in  any  community 
"good  faces  are  always  put  on  before  company." 
Most  people  are  sensible  enough  to  keep  their  private 
quarrels  out  of  sight. 

A  henpecked  Mormon  may  have  this  advantage 
over  a  Gentile.  He  may  escape  from  one  wife  who 
happens  to  be  in  a  bad  temper  to  the  society  of 
another,  who,  for  the  time  being,  is  more  amiably 
disposed  ;  but  on  the  whole,  he  must  have  a  hard 
time,  for  occasionally  he  will  be  obliged  to  stand  the 
^extraordinary  pressure  of  them  all.  As  to  the  women 
who  elsewhere  complain  of  having  a  man  about  them 
continually  to  torment  them,  they  have  the  satisfac- 
tion of  dividing  his  ill-nature  as  well  as  his  attentions. 


MORMON  ARGUMENTS.  l6/ 

I  was  never  inquisitive  when  visiting  Mormon 
families.  Sometimes  conversation  was  volunteered. 
A  very  respectable  gentleman  in  Salt  Lake  City  re- 
marked :  "The  only  difference  between  our  people 
and  yours,  is  that  we  marry  our  concubines — you 
don't." 

One  argued  against  Gentiles,  that  there  were 
many  unmarried  young  men  in  Utah  and  yet  no 
houses  of  prostitution  there,  while  in  other  communi- 
ties, where  the  same  proportion  of  married  and  unmar- 
ried men  existed,  all  of  them  were  infested  by  broth- 
els, therefore  those  houses  must  be  mainly  supported  by 
the  married. 

A  Gentile  lady  asked  a  Mormon  lady,  with  whom 
she  was  on  intimate  terms,  how  she  could  bear  the 
knowledge  that  her  husband  was  passing  his  time 
with  another  woman?  She  replied,  "Certainly  it  is 
not  pleasant  to  think  of,  but  we  have  this  advantage 
over  you,  we  know  where  our  husbands  are — you 
don't !  "  The  other  might  have  well  retorted  that  in 
such  a  case  "  ignorance  is  bliss  !  " 

A  gentleman  catechised  me  in  this  way  :  "  What  do 
you  think  of  the  majority  of  the  women  in  Salt  Lake 
City — do  you  think  they  are  virtuous  or  not,  it  being 
understood  that  polygamy  is  justifiable  ?  " 

"  With  that  exception,  I  believe  there  is  no  city  in 
the  world  where  they  are  more  so." 


168  COMPARATIVE  MORALITY. 

"  How  does  it  compare  in  this  respect  with  New 
York  or  Boston  ?  " 

"Most  favorably." 

"  What  are  the  average  wages  of  shop-girls  in  those 
cities  ?  " 

"  I  believe  about  five  dollars  per  week." 

"  Doesn't  it  cost  them  about  that  for  board  and 
lodging  ?  " 

"  I  should  suppose  it  might." 

"  Where  do  they  get  their  silk  dresses,  then  ?  " 

"  Well,  there  are  many  of  them  who  don't  have 
silk  dresses  ;  and  some  of  them  who  do  have  them 
get  them  honestly.  A  great  many  of  them  undoubt- 
edly do  what  they  ought  not  to  do." 

"  Yes,  and  wouldn't  it  be  better  for  them  to  be  No. 
2,  3,  or  4  in  a  good  family  here  than  to  earn  money 
in  that  way  ?  " 

"  That's  a  matter  of  taste  for  those  young  women 
to  consider.  I  don't  think  it  is  polygamy  that  keeps 
your  women  virtuous.  It  is  their  simple  habit  of 
dress  ;  when  fashion  asserts  its  authority  in  Salt  Lake 
and  takes  charge  of  your  decks,  look  out  for  breakers 
ahead  !  " 

I  have  spoken  of  polygamy  sometimes  lightly,  for  I 
have  seen  it  chiefly  in  its  comical  aspects.  But  to 
treat  it  seriously,  let  us  meet  the  Mormon  arguments 
squarely.  "  It  has  the  example  of  the  patriarchs,"  they 


CONDEMNATION  OF  POLYGAMY.       1 69 

say.  We  repudiate  the  practices  of  those  too  much 
venerated  men,  and  fall  back  on  the  pure  precepts  of 
Christianity. 

"  It  prevents  the  prostitution  of  women."  Allow- 
ing this  argument  all  the  force  it  deserves,  we  have 
already  hinted  that  simplicity  of  dress  is  a  greater  safe- 
guard for  virtue. 

"  It  divides  the  labor  of  the  household  !  "  Most 
women  would  prefer  all  the  labor  and  all  the  husband. 
If  woman-nature  is  the  same  that  it  is  elsewhere, 
even  the  hopes  of  a  greater  "  exaltation  "  in  the 
other  world  can  hardly  pay  for  the  heart-burnings 
and  jealousies  that,  despite  all  denial,  must  infallibly 
torment  a  family  of  many  women  and  one  man  ! 

It  is  idle  to  extenuate  the  evils  of  a  system  that 
must  be  condemned  in  toto  as  a  blot  upon  civiliza- 
tion, a  degradation  of  women,  and  a  monstrosity  too 
abnormal  to  live. 
8 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 

The  Future  of  the  Mormon  Religion. 

POLYGAMY  cannot  much  longer  survive.  There 
are  causes  at  work  which  will  bring  about  its 
speedy  extinction.  The  Congress  of  the  United  States 
has  firmly  resolved  that  whatever  may  be  the  increase 
of  the  population  of  Utah,  it  shall  not  be  admitted  as  a 
State  until  polygamy  is  abolished. 

Brigham  Young  and  all  those  in  authority  are  ex- 
tremely desirous,  for  the  perpetuation  of  their  own 
power,  that  a  State  government  shall  be  established. 
The  people  are  already  exceedingly  restive  under  the 
tithing  system.  The  ten-per-cent.  income-tax  for  the 
church  is  becoming  yearly  more  difficult  to  collect. 
"  Pay  your  tithes  or  you  cannot  inherit  the  kingdom," 
has  been  the  refrain  of  many  sermons  that  I  have 
heard. 

Once  a  State,  Utah  will  be  more  free  of  Federal 
control  than  it  now  is  as  a  Territory,  and  then  taxes, 
nominally  for  the  State,  but  in  some  way  made  ad- 
vantageous for  the  church,  can  be  colhected  by  law, 
and  these  not  only  from  apostate  Mormons  but  from 


UTAH  AS   A   STATE.  I/I 

Gentiles  as  well.  Every  State,  county,  municipal,  and 
town  officer  will  be  a  Mormon.  The  judiciary  will  be 
Mormon.  The  public  schools  will  be,  if  possible, 
more  under  Mormon  influence  than  they  now  are,  and 
the  Book  of  Mormon  will  be  their  text-book.  There 
is  nothing  in  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States 
to  prevent  such  an  exercise  of  State  rights. 

Congress  having  refused  to  admit  Utah  as  a  State 
to  the  Union  until  polygamy  is  discontinued,  has 
virtually  declared  that  with  its  abolition  no  objection 
to  her  admission  will  be  offered.  Naturally,  the  Gen- 
tile part  of  the  population  do  not  desire  it,  for  they 
know  that  they  will  have  no  power  or  voice  in  the 
management  of  State  affairs.  The  Mormons  pray  for 
it  "continually,  and  their  prayers  will  soon  be  heard, 
for  Brigham  Young  will  ere  long  have  another  revela- 
tion. Some  angel  is  probably  already  on  the  way 
to  him  with  a  new  "Thus  saith  the  Lord."  In  short, 
although  he  would  dislike  extremely  to  yield  up  a 
favorite  doctrine,  the  preservation  of  his  power  and 
the  collection  of  tithes  are  of  more  importance  to 
him  than  the  continuance  of  one  practice  alone  stand- 
ing in  the  way,  and  which  has  not  the  attractions  for 
him  that  it  once  had. 

Moreover,  he  is  aware  that  there  are  other  influences 
aiding  to  accomplish  its  overthrow.  A  few  small 
sects  of  the  Mormons  in  Utah  are  opposed  to  it,  and 


172  DRESSMAKERS'  GOSPELS. 

on  the  banks  of  the  Missouri  the  church  of  the  Latter- 
Day  Saints  is  being  revived  in  its  original  purity  by 
the  son  of  its  founder.  This  society  is  sending  its 
missionaries  into  the  country,  and  their  influence  is 
widely  felt. 

There  are  Gentile  missionaries,  too,  earnestly  at 
work,  not  of  the  "American  Board,"  or  of  the 
proselyting  sect  of  the  Rev.  Dr.  Newman,  but  more 
mighty  than  these,  the  priestesses  of  fashion — milli- 
ners and  dressmakers. 

These  come  to  Salt  Lake  City,  and  display  their 
gospels  in  the  shop  windows,  and  conversions  are 
miraculous.  Despite  all  the  anathemas  of  Brigham 
Young,  the  Mormon  women  are  becoming  fond  of 
jaunty  hats,  ribbons,  and  expensive  silks.  His  own 
wives  and  daughters  indulge  in  those  worldly  vanities 
to  an  alarming  extent.  Powerful  as  he  is  in  council 
and  in  all  else,  he  cannot  control  a  woman's  love  of 
finery  and  extravagance. 

So  far  as  he  is  concerned  it  does  not  matter.  He  is 
rich  and  can  afford  it.  But  alas  for  the  man  of  mode- 
rate means  !  When  woman  ceases  to  be  a  help-meet 
for  him,  and  becomes  only  an  expensive  toy  to  be  kept 
in  ornamental  repair,  how  shall  he  support  more  than 
one  wife  ?  I  say  it  seriously,  this  solves  the  question 
of  polygamy. 

But  what  of  Mormonism  when  this  stain  upon  it:  is 


WHAT  MORMONISM   HAS  ACCOMPLISHED.        1/3 

erased?  It  will  be  stronger  than  ever.  No  other 
sects  of  Christians  can  populate  this  territory  in  the 
same  ratio.  The  miners  and  traders,  who  come  here 
with  little  enthusiasm  for  religion  of  any  kind,  are 
comparatively  few  in  number,  are  without  families, 
and  seldom  remain  permanently. 

Nearly  one  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  Mormons 
are  already  in  Utah  and  the  adjoining  territories. 
Missionaries  are  spreading  their  faith  in  all  directions, 
and  a  union  will  probably  soon  be  formed  with  the  fol- 
lowers of  the  younger  Smith.  The  immigration  from 
the  Eastern  continent,  now  coming  in  by  thousands, 
will  be  increased  immeasurably. 

When  I  remember  what  I  have  seen  in  the  North  of 
Europe,  among  the  Scandinavian  nations  from  whom 
the  Saints  are  so  largely  recruited,  how  wretchedly 
ignorant,  enslaved,  and  brutalized  they  are  in  their  old 
homes ;  and  compare  this  with  what  I  have  witnessed  of 
the  intelligent  freedom,  industry,  sobriety  and  happi- 
ness of  those  who  have  emigrated  to  Utah  ;  when  I  see 
how,  notwithstanding  all  its  defects  and  even  barbar- 
isms, the  Mormon  faith,  where  it  has  supreme  control, 
has  utterly  abolished  intemperance,  gambling,  licen- 
tiousness, and  general  immorality,  I  cannot  regret  the 
existence  of  a  religion  that  has  conferred  such  benefits 
upon  humanity. 

In  due  time,  if  their  growth  is  not  encouraged  by 


1/4  A  PURIFIED   RELIGION. 

the  stimulus  of  persecution  and  political  agitation,  all 
the  excrescences  of  Mormonism  will  be  lopped  off,  the 
poisonous  vines  that  still  cling  to  it  will  die  a  natural 
death,  and  the  tree  itself  will  live  with  others  "  to 
bear  the  peaceable  fruits  of  righteousness "  in  the 
garden  of  God. 


CHAPTER  XIX. 

Inspection  of  the  Ger mania  Smelting  Works. — Interest  of  the  Ladies 
In  the  Processes  and  the  Manager. — The  beautiful  "  TestS"1 — Diffi- 
culty of  obtaining  Coke. —  The  Southern  Utah  Railroad. 

AT  present  a  great  deal  of  the  ore  as  it  comes 
roughly  from  the  silver  mines  is  shipped  over 
the  Utah  Central  and  Union  Pacific  Roads,  to  the  East, 
and  some  of  it  finds  its  way  to  New  York,  where  it  is 
refined,  or  whence  it  is  shipped  to  England.  Much  of 
the  coarser  kind  is  shipped  by  the  Central  Pacific  to 
San  Francisco,  and  thence  by  sailing-vessels  to  Europe, 
the  shorter  distance  by  rail  making  a  lesser  freight 
counterbalance  the  loss  of  time.  A  very  large  por- 
tion of  the  ore,  however,  goes  East,  and  is  delivered 
at  Pittsburgh,  where  the  cheapness  of  coal  and  coke 
converts  it  into  bullion  on  the  most  favorable  terms. 
But  there  are  several  small  establishments  for  smelting 
in  Utah  Territory,  most  of  which  are  at  Sandy,  a  few 
miles  from  the  Cottonwood  Canons.  There  are  others 
among  the  Western  mining  districts  in  Bingham,  Dry, 
and  Ophir  Caftons. 

That  which  I  am  about  to  describe  is  conducted  on 


176  EXCURSION  WITH   BRIGHAM   YOUNG. 

the  most  scientific  and  economical  plan.  It  embraces 
all  recent  improvements,  by  which  a  large  waste  of 
mineral  is  prevented,  and  consequently  it  yields  a  good 
revenue  to  the  proprietors. 

As  it  is  not  a  stock-jobbing  concern,  and  there  is  not 
a  disposition  on  the  part  of  the  owners  to  sell  it,  I  did 
not  find  such  difficulty  in  obtaining  information  there  as 
I  experienced  on  making  inquiries  at  the  Emma  Mine. 

On  the  occasion  of  our  first  visit  to  Salt  Lake,  when 
Brigham  Young  gave  us  an  excursion  on  the  "  Utah 
Southern,"  although  we  were  prevented  by  the  rain 
from  a  full  enjoyment  of  the  entertainment,  the  scien- 
tific portion  of  our  party  were  highly  delighted  with 
the  inspection  of  the  Germania  Smelting  and  Refining 
Works,  eight  miles  from  the  city,  where  the  train 
stopped  for  an  hour.  We  had  time  to  go  through  the 
buildings,  which  are  quite  extensive,  and  to  examine 
the  curious  processes  by  which  the  mineral  is  refined 
from  its  dross  and  becomes  pure  silver.  The  irrepres- 
sible Gail  Hamilton,  who  always  wants  to  see  every- 
thing, and  always  sees  everything  to  a  good  purpose, 
was  especially  interested,  as  it  was  quite  in  her  line. 
No  one  can  eliminate  such  pure  shining  thought  from 
dull  matters  of  fact  as  can  this  gifted  lady.  "  Now  just 
tell  us  all  about  it,  every  bit  about  it,"  she  said  to  the 
handsome  young  German  who  superintended  the  es- 
tablishment. I  thought  the  other  ladies  were  more 


FLACH'S  INVENTION.  1/7 

interested  in  the  narrator  than  in  the  processes  he  de- 
scribed. 

He  said  that  Flach,  one  of  his  countrymen,  was 
the  inventor,  modestly  disclaiming  any  merit  for 
himself,  although  the  company  owes  much  to  the  inge- 
nuity of  his  brain.  It  would  obviously  be  impossible 
.to  remember  all  the  description  given  by  Mr.  Billing, 
but  from  some  notes  which  he  kindly  gave  me  after- 
wards I  will  endeavor  to  condense  as  much  as  may 
be  of  interest,  without  tiring  the  patience  of  general 
readers. 

We  were  shown  five  large  pots,  each  one  capable  of 
holding  over  twenty  tons  of  base  bullion.  This  is 
thrown  into  one  of  them  as  it  is  received  from  the 
various  smelting  works  where  it  has  been  extracted 
from  the  ore.  An  intense  heat  is  kept  up  by  the 
furnaces  until  the  temperature  is  reached  at  which  zinc 
will  melt. 

Zinc  is  used  for  the  separation  of  gold,  silver,  and  cop- 
per from  lead,  because  it  has  a  greater  affinity  for  these 
and  other  metals  than  it  has  for  lead.  When  base  bullion 
contains  from  one  hundred  and  fifty  to  two  hundred 
ounces  of  silver  per  ton,  two  or  three  per  cent,  of  zinc 
is  sufficient  to  separate  it  completely.  After  there  is 
sufficient  heat  the  zinc  is  gradually  stirred  in,  and 
when  the  mass  has  somewhat  cooled  off  it  is  found  that 

the  zinc  being  thoroughly  mixed  with  the  lead  takes  up 
8* 


1/8  COST  OF   COAL  AND   COKE. 

the  gold  and  copper  with  much  of  the  silver,  and  rises  to 
the  surface.  After  a  while  this  scum  is  taken  off  and 
put  into  another  pot,  when  the  process  is  renewed, 
and  afterwards  into  another,  renewing  it  again  until 
the  separation  is  complete  ;  and  by  means  of  tapping 
the  pot  the  lead  runs  out  and  the  pure  metal  remains. 
The  whole  time  consumed  in  the  operation  is  about 
twenty-four  hours. 

The  capacity  of  the  works  is  forty  tons  per  day. 
The  fuel  used  is  coal  and  coke.  The  latter  is  now 
very  expensive,  as  it  is  brought  from  Pittsburgh,  Pa., 
at  a  cost  of  $30  per  ton.  When  the  mines  of  coal  in 
Southern  Utah  are  developed  these  prices  will  be 
materially  reduced.  The  fluxes  used  are  hematite 
iron  ore  costing  $15  per  ton,  and  lead  slag  which 
costs  very  little,  as  it  is  to  be  had  on  the  spot.  What 
is  called  the  "test,"  by  which,  at  the  termination  of 
all  these  processes,  the  pure  silver  is  brought  out,  was 
by  far  the  most  interesting  to  us.  As  soon  as  the 
"  cupellation  "  had  terminated,  there  was  what  may 
be  really  styled  a  beautiful  phenomenon  of  "bright- 
ening." As  soon  as  the  last  trace  of  lead  cleared 
itself  from  the  silver,  an  instantaneous  vivid  flash 
covered  the  little  silver  sea  and  threw  out  a  wonderfully 
pure  and  peculiar  light.  The  ladies  were  in  ecstasies 
over  this  and  begged  for  a  repetition  of  it,  but  as 
another  twenty-four  hours  must  have  elapsed  before 


THE   SAN   PETE   MINES.  1/9 

they  could  be  gratified,  they  were  forced  to  be  con- 
tented with  this  one  beautiful  exhibition .  Each  of  them 
was  presented  with  a  bit  of  the  silver,  from  which 
they  proposed  to  have  made  some  little  ornament,  in 
token  of  their  appreciation  of  the  interesting  practical 
lecture  we  had  received  from  the  courteous  young 
manager. 

If  the  weather  had  permitted,  we  intended  to  have 
not  only  taken  a  peep  at  Cottonwood  Canon  on  this 
occasion,  but  also  to  have  gone  as  far  as  the  "  Utah 
Southern,"  for  it  is  now  completed,  forty-two  miles. 
This  road  is  intended  to  go  to  St.  George,  more  than 
two  hundred  miles  further,  and  in  the  extreme  south 
of  the  Territory.  As  it  runs  through  a  rich  agricultural 
district  it  will  doubtless  prove  a  valuable  property, 
and  of  great  importance  in  adding  to  the  general 
wealth.  One  great  branch  of  its  business  will  be  the 
transportation  of  coal  from  the  San  Pete  mines,  which 
are  very  nearly  on  its  track,  and  to  which  a  branch 
road  will  be  constructed.  These  mines  are  really  in- 
exhaustible, and  if  all  reports  are  true,  as  I  am  assured 
by  experts  that  they  are,  they  possess  the  inestimable 
advantage  of  producing  coke  from  their  coal.  The 
great  want  of  all  the  smelting  works  is  this  kind  of 
fuel,  which  heretofore  has  been  brought  all  the  way 
from  Pennsylvania,  at  a  cost  of  thirty  dollars  or  more 
per  ton.  .  Charcoal,  in  view  of  the  expense  of  coke,  is 


ISO  SCARCITY   OF   WOOD. 

much  used  for  smelting  purposes.  But  as  wood  at  best 
is  scarce  in  Utah,  and  is  becoming  more  so  every  day, 
the  price  of  charcoal  is  much  enhanced.  It  will, 
therefore,  be  very  well  understood  that  if  coke  can  be 
delivered  at  the  works  for  one-quarter  of  the  present 
price,  an  immense  impetus  will  be  given  to  the  great 
mining  interests  of  the  Territory. 


CHAPTER  XX. 

Iron  and  Coal  more  valuable  than  Silver. — Discoveries  of  Iron  Mines 
and  Coal  Beds. — Need  of  Capital  to  operate  them. — Their  future 
assured  Development. 

"\  7  ALUABLE  as  are  the  silver  mines  of  Utah,  they 
V  form  but  a  small  part  of  its  mineral  wealth,  The 
country  abounds  in  coal  and  iron.  These  are  tangible 
minerals  at  all  times.  They  yield  a  profit  to  all  con- 
cerned in  them.  The  owner,  the  laborer,  and  the  car- 
rier, each  with  comparatively  little  risk,  enjoys  a  certain 
gain.  Mines  of  silver  and  gold  are  lotteries,  after  all, 
in  which  vastly  more  blanks  than  prizes  are  drawn. 
Many  are  ruined,  and  a  few  individuals  made  rich  by 
speculating  in  them.  They  are  like  stock  operations 
in  Wall  street. 

Mines  of  coal  and  iron  may  be  compared  to  the  le- 
gitimate commerce  of  these  United  States  that  ex- 
isted for  the  benefit  of  the  whole  people  before 
ruinous  legislation  and  a  depreciated  currency  en- 
riched a  few,  impoverished  the  many,  and  made  gam- 
blers of  us  all. 


1 82  IRON  AND   COAL. 

The  southern  portion  of  Utah,  in  which  direction 
the  Utah  Southern  and  the  Salt  Lake  Sevier  Valley 
and  Pioche  Railroads,  already  mentioned,  are  rapidly 
extending,  presents  great  inducements  to  iron  manufac- 
turers. Probably  nowhere  in  this  country  can  a 
similar  extent  of  territory  be  found  containing  such  im- 
mense deposits  of  iron-ore,  and  coal  suitable  in  its 
natural  condition  or  without  coking  for  blast-furnace 
use,  and  limestone  of  the  greatest  purity,  in  juxtapo- 
sition. 

The  time  cannot  be  far  distant  when  capital  will  be 
attracted  to  the  iron  and  coal  mining  interests.  Then, 
instead  of  Utah  importing  railroad  iron,  iron  castings, 
tools  and  machinery  from  distant  parts  of  the  country 
on  the  Atlantic  and  Pacific  coasts,  steel  and  iron  rails 
will  be  rolled  in  the  southern  counties  and  all  articles 
manufactured  from  iron  will  be  furnished,  not  only 
for  the  requirements  of  the  Territory,  but  to  an  extent 
that  might  supply  the  entire  country  between  the  two 
oceans. 

The  iron-ore  is  both  magnetic  and  hematite,  and  re- 
markably rich  in  metallic  iron,  little  ore  being  less 
than  fifty  per  cent,  of  pure  iron,  while  the  largest  pro- 
portion of  all  the  deposits  yet  opened  will  average 
nearly  seventy  per  cent. 

The  great  complaint  of  iron-masters  in  other  parts 
of  this  country  and  in  England  is,  not  so  much  of  the 


IMPURITIES   OF  IRON.  183 

leanness  of  the  ore,  as  of  the  impurities  found  in  it. 
Sulphur  is  often  combined  with  the  iron  at  a  large 
percentage  of  the  whole,  and  phosphorus,  the  greatest 
of  all  objectionable  matter,  is  in  nearly  all  iron-ore. 

The  former  can  be  burnt  out  by  calcining  the  ore 
before  it  is  used  in  the  blast-furnace,  by  which  process, 
however,  the  cost  of  the  ore  is  considerably  enhanced  ; 
but  phosphorus  to  the  present  time  defies  all  attempts 
to  remove  it  entirely.  Bessemer  steel,  or  ordinary 
description  of  steel  of  good  quality,  cannot  be  made 
from  iron  containing  even  less  than  half  of  one  per 
cent,  of  phosphorus. 

But  in  Utah  it  is  claimed  the  iron-ore  is  found,  not 
in  veins,  but  in  immense  deposits,  of  such  a  character 
that  the  laboratory  tests  show  it  to  be  free  entirely  from 
both  sulphur  and  phosphorus.  It  is  found  in  quan- 
tities heretofore  unknown  anywhere  on  our  continent. 
It  may  also  safely  be  said  that,  excepting  in  Wyo- 
ming, these  iron-ore  and  coal  deposits  are  the  only  ones 
of  magnitude  between  the  boundaries  of  Canada  and 
Mexico,  and  from  the  Mississippi  River  to  the  Pacific. 

At  present,  with  few  exceptions,  the  deposits  are 
almost  exclusively  claimed  and  held  by  parties  who 
are  too  poor  to  go  even  to  the  expense  of  survey  and 
purchase  from  the  United  States.  What  is  required,  in 
order  to  bring  these  deposits  now  before  persons  who 
are  engaged  in  iron  manufacture  and  mining  coal,  is 


1 84  SELECTION  OF  LANDS. 

some  little  amount  of  capital  to  aid  the  claimants  on 
shares  to  procure  the  titles  .from  the  Government. 
Some  claimants  have  offered  to  convey  half  of  their 
claims  to  any  one  who  will  procure  a  title,  and 
others  will  do  even  better  than  this  in  order  to  attain 
the  same  result. 

By  the  existing  laws  of  Congress,  as  understood  by 
the  Commissioner  of  the  Land  Office,  large  tracts  of 
iron  and  coal  lands  can  be  procured  for  a  small  outlay 
of  capital.  The  future  value  of  these  will  depend  upon 
their  judicious  selection,  not  as  to  the  quantity  or 
quality  of  the  iron-ore  and  coal,  but  entirely  as  to  pres- 
ent and  future  routes  of  transportation,  settlements, 
desirability  of  position  for  furnaces  and  large  manu- 
facturing establishments. 

It  is  hardly  possible  to  go  much  amiss,  however,  in 
selection  of  the  location  of  iron-ore  and  coal  deposits. 
The  Territory  will  be  soon  opened  up  in  various  direc- 
tions by  railroads,  and  no  portion  of  it  at  an  earlier 
date  than  in  the  southern  part. 

The  project  of  establishing  blast-furnaces,  puddling- 
furnaces,  and  rolling-mills  for  manufacture  of  Besse- 
mer steel  rails,  has  already  been  agitated  at  Salt  Lake 
City.  The  plan  proposed  was  to  locate  extensive 
works  in  the  iron  country,  about  two  hundred  and 
fifty  miles  south  of  Salt  Lake  City,  for  the  purpose  of 
supplying  the  railroad  wants  of  Utah  and  Nevada, 


WANT  OF   CAPITAL.  185 

as  well  as  the  Southern  Pacific  Railroad,  with  iron- 
rails  and  other  material. 

The  absolute  necessity  of  such  an  establishment,  the 
immense  advantages  presented  in  iron-ore,  coal,  and 
limestone  over  any  other  portion  of  the  country  to 
make  it  extremely  profitable,  has  been  discussed  by 
the  press  and  people  of  the  Territory  ;  but  lack  of 
necessary  capital,  and  of  men  skilled  in  irpn  manufac- 
turing commencing  from  the  ore-bed,  have  prevented 
the  undertaking  to  the  present  time. 

The  coal-fields  in  San  Pete  county  and  Iron  county 
have  in  many  cases  been  surveyed  and  taken  up.  In 
the  former  county  coal  to  some  extent  has  been  mined, 
and  excellent  coke  made  from  the  coal  has  been  ex- 
hibited. 

At  present,  however,  the  coke  used  by  the  smelting 
works  near  Salt  Lake  is  brought  all  the  way  by  rail- 
road from  beyond  Pittsburgh,  and  sells,  as  has  been 
stated,  at  thirty  to  thirty-five  dollars  per  ton.  At  times 
the  works  are  short  of  this  kind  of  fuel,  and  occasionally 
have  had  to  stop  work  for  several  days  before  securing 
a  supply.  Of  wood  and  timber  the  whole  Territory  is 
so  sparsely  supplied,  that  coal  and  coke  must  always 
be  the  fuel  for  all  uses. 

The  line  of  the  proposed  Salt  Lake  Sevier  Valley 
and  Pioche  Railroad  will  open  up  both  the  iron-ore 
and  coal  deposits,  by  affording  means  of  transporta- 


1 86  GEOLOGICAL  FORMATION. 

tion  at  Summit  Creek  Canon  in  Iron  county,  within 
twelve  miles  of  the  proposed  road.  Quite  a  large  force 
of  men  has  been  at  work  on  several  locations,  held 
by  Salt  Lake  mining  operators.  Here  veins  of  bitu- 
minous coal,  from  six  to  eight  feet  wide,  have  been 
opened.  Specimens  from  the  croppings  down  to  six 
feet  have  been  exhibited,  and  pronounced  by  experts 
very  superior  in  quality,  and  free  from  sulphur  and 
impurities.  The  geological  formation  at  Summit 
Creek  is  sandstone  and  slate,  similar  to  that  in  all 
parts  of  the  county  where  coal  exists  ;  and  elsewhere 
in  the  Territory  where  coal  and  iron-ore  are  found,  the 
formation  clearly  shows  them  to  be  of  the  character 
of  the  coal  and  iron  fields  of  Pennsylvania,  Ohio, 
Missouri,  and  the  Lake  Superior  region. 

Fire-clay,  and  other  clay,  suited  to  building  purpo- 
ses and  for  manufacture  of  ware,  is  abundant  through 
the  Territory  wherever  coal  and  iron-ore  are  found.  Of 
manganese  and  manganesian  iron-ore  there  is  more  in 
quantity,  and  so  situated  as  to  be  more  cheaply  mined 
than  in  any  other  part  of  the  world.  Speigeliesen  made 
from  the  manganesian  iron-ore,  used  in  combination 
for  smelting,  and  bleaching-powders  from  manganese, 
can  here  be  manufactured  in  sufficient  quantity  to  meet 
the  wants  of  the  entire  country. 

At  the  date  of  writing  this  work,  several  persons 
are  in  England  with  the  surveys  and  reports  on  the 


ENORMOUS   PRICES.  l8/ 

mineral  deposits  of  Southern  Utah,  endeavoring  to 
raise  capital  there  to  open  up  the  great  interests  that 
have  been  named. 

Iron-ore  and  coal  deposits,  as  located  by  dis- 
coverers, are  offered  for  sale,  or  as  pledges  for  loans  to 
be  made  on  them  ;  the  money  obtained  is  to  be  entirely 
invested  in  improvements  and  in  the  necessary  works 
to  develop  the  properties.  Little  success  has  as  yet 
attended  these  efforts,  for  two  reasons  :  first,  in  pre- 
senting the  properties  for  sale,  enormous  prices  have 
been  asked ;  and  secondly,  in  proposals  made  for  bor- 
rowing money  it  was  seen  at  a  glance  that  the  parties 
who  had  the  matter  in  hand,  possessed  neither  the 
knowledge  nor  educated  skill  to  manage  such  enter- 
prises. 

The  prices  asked  for  the  properties  are  not  near  the 
actual  values,  but  those  who  are  interested  in  the  sale 
should  remember  that  one  hundred  dollars  per  acre 
(which  has  been  asked)  for  coal  and  iron-ore  lands 
situated  in  Southern  Utah,  away  from  not  only  trans- 
portation, but  remote  from  settlements  of  any  kind, 
will  not  be  likely  to  attract  purchasers  in  England. 
If,  on  the  other  hand,  owners  had  offered  half  their 
land  at  a  mere  nominal  price,  or  even  given  a  deed  of 
the  same  free  of  cost,  on  condition  that  it  be  improved, 
the  mines  opened,  and  furnaces  and  mills  established, 
it  would  have  made  for  the  half  held  by  the  owners 


1 88  FUTURE  VALUE   OF  MINES. 

a  value  ten  times  greater  than  is  likely  to  be  obtained 
for  the  whole  in  event  of  sale  even  at  prices  now 
asked. 

In  fact,  in  all  mining  communities  enormous  prices 
are  asked  for  what  are  but  mere  discoveries  or  pros- 
pects. As  is  often  said,  a  man  for  a  mere  showing  of 
mineral  on  the  surface  and  a  hole  dug  a  few  feet  in  the 
ground,  and  absolutely  nothing  more,  will  ask,  un- 
blushingly,  a  hundred  or  two  hundred  thousand 
dollars. 

Utah,  in  the  large  prices  asked  heretofore  for  the  coal 
and  iron-ore  discoveries  and  locations,  has  been 
particularly  unfortunate.  Both  coal  and  iron-ore  are 
articles  of  small  market  value  when  mined  ready  for 
use.  The  most  extensive  deposits  of  the  greatest  rich- 
ness and  pureness  in  character,  away  from  transporta- 
tion and  remote  from  settlements,  actually  have  no 
immediate  value.  These  possess  only  a  future  value, 
a  value  when  roads  shall  be  made  and  people  shall  live 
along  their  lines. 

To  lead  to  construction  of  roads  and  to  induce 
settlements,  coal  and  iron  properties  must  be  presented 
to  the  public,  at  first,  at  mere  nominal  prices  :  not 
with  the  idea  of  obtaining  purchasers  at  prices  that 
will  more  than  pay  expenses  incurred  in  locating  and 
obtaining  the  government  patent ;  but  rather  to  en- 
deavor to  attract  buyers  by  low  prices,  and  exhibits 


IRON  AND   COAL  versus  SILVER  AND   GOLD.       189 

as  to  what  the  future  will  give  in  return  for  the  large 
outlay  that  must  be  made,  outside  of  the  purchase  of 
the  fee  of  the  land.  One  or  two  successful  coal  or 
iron  mines  operated  on  a  large  scale  near  the  line  of 
roads  under  process  of  construction,  would  lead  to 
other  developments,  and  so  on,  until  roads  would  be 
specially  built,  and  people  go  to  live  near  the  mines. 

The  small  iron  furnaces  now  in  operation  in  Utah 
Territory  make  large  returns  to  the  owners.  There  is 
no  question  but  that  future  results  will  show  that  the 
iron  and  coal  interests  of  Utah  far  exceed  in  value 
its  mines  of  silver,  rich  as  they  are.  The  actual 
"  out-turn  "  and  result  in  money  profit,  will  be  greater 
than  from  all  the  mines  and  reduction  works  of  the 
precious  metals. 

Utah  Territory,  those  territories  adjacent,  the  whole 
country  from  the  Mississippi  to  California,  will  be  in- 
tersected by  railroads,  and  settled  up  by  a  numerous 
and  thriving  population.  The  iron  and  coal  to  pro- 
duce all  this  will  not  be  brought  from  afar,  but  will  be 
mined  and  manufactured,  to  supply  the  demand,  from 
the  deposits  in  Utah.  There  are  already  two  small 
iron  furnaces  in  operation  in  the  southern  part  of  the 
Territory,  where  coal  is  mined  in  a  small  way,  and 
though  carted  some  distance,  yet  pays  the  parties 
interested  a  handsome  return. 

Coal  in  San   Pete   county   has  been  worked  on  a 


COST  OF  TRANSPORTATION. 

moderate  scale  for  some  time,  and  has  found  its  way  of 
late  to  Salt  Lake  City.  Iron-ore  has  been  brought  by 
the  Union  Pacific  Railroad  from  some  distance,  to  be 
used  for  flux  in  reduction  of  other  ores.  The  cost  of 
transportation,  in  both  cases,  interferes  with  or  re- 
stricts the  consumption.  All  this  will  be  changed  by 
and  by,  for  the  immense  sources  of  wealth  and  profit 
pointed  out  as  found  throughout  that  portion  of  Utah, 
will  not  long  remain  undeveloped.  The  present  year, 
I  am  led  to  believe,  will  not  end  before  action  will  be 
taken  directly  for  the  working  of  the  coal  deposits, 
and  for  opening  and  developing  the  iron-ore  beds. 


CHAPTER  XXI. 

The  Evanston  Coal  Mines. — Other  Coal  Mines  along  the  Line  of  the 
Union  Pacific  Railroad.  —  Oil-bearing  Rock. — Deposits  of  Soda  and 
Sulphur. —  Various  Mineral  Resources. —  7'he  Work  of  Oakes  Ames. 

ON  the  way  home  I  stayed  for  a  few  hours   at 
the  Evanston  coal  mine,  situated  in  the  east- 
ern part  of  the    Territory,    six    miles    beyond    Echo 
Canon. 

My  stay  was  necessarily  too  short  to  admit  of  a 
visit  to  the  dark  regions  below-ground,  but  I  for- 
tunately met  at  the  works  Mr.  T.  E.  Sickles,  the 
efficient  superintendent  of  the  Union  Pacific  Railroad, 
who  very  kindly  answered  all  inquiries  in  regard 
to  the  Evanston  mines,  and  gave  me  some  valuable 
memoranda  relating  to  the  mineral  products  not  only 
in  this  immediate  neighborhood,  but  all  along  the  line 
of  that  road.  As  they  are  intimately  connected  with 
the  prosperity  of  Utah,  mention  of  them  will  not 
be  considered  out  of  place.  Mr.  Sickles  says  that 
the  Evanston  and  other  mines,  scattered  along  by 
the  side  of  the  track  for  a  distance  of  four  hundred 
miles  extending  to  Wyoming  station,  are  inex- 


I Q2  STRATA   OF   COAL. 

haustible  treasuries  of  bituminous  coal.  All  these 
discoveries  have  been  made  since  the  road  was  pro- 
jected, arid  they  are  consequently  unexpected  but 
welcome  additions  to  its  property  value. 

Coal  mines  have  been  opened  at  Carbon,  Rock 
Springs,  and  Evanston,  and  at  other  points  on  the 
Union  Pacific  Railroad,  from  which  were  mined  dur- 
ing the  year  1873  an  aggregate  of  three  hundred  and 
fifty  thousand  tons  for  the  use  of  the  Pacific  and  Utah 
Railroads,  and  also  for  domestic  consumption  at  all  the 
towns  along  the  line  of  railroad  between  Omaha  and 
Sacramento. 

The  coal  is  found  in  strata,  either  horizontal  or  with 
slight  inclination,  varying  in  thickness  from  a  few 
inches  to  twenty-eight  feet,  which  latter  is  the  thickest 
vein  developed  up  to  this  time.  It  has  furnished 
about  one  half  of  all  the  coal  taken  out  during  the 
year. 

The  quality  of  the  coal  for  domestic  use,  or  for  use 
of  locomotives,  is  known  to  be  unsurpassed  by  any 
bituminous  coal  in  this  country.  No  experiments 
have  been  made  in  the  manufacture  of  iron  by  the  use 
of  this  coal,  and  its  value  therefore,  for  this  purpose, 
is  unknown. 

Within  a  belt  of  four  hundred  miles  long  and  forty 
miles  wide,  the  Union  Pacific  Railroad  Company  owns 
five  million  one  hundred  and  twenty  thousand  acres 


IRON   MINES   AND    MINERAL   PAINT.  193 

of  land,  embracing  a  greater  area  of  coal-fields  than 
is  contained  in  the  entire  anthracite  region  of  Penn- 
sylvania. 

There  are  numerous  deposits  of  iron-ore  near  the  line 
of  the  railroad,  extending  from  Cheyenne  to  Ogden,  a 
distance  of  five  hundred  and  sixteen  miles.  Several  of 
these  ores  have  been  analyzed,  but  none  have  been  used 
for  the  manufacture  of  iron.  An  extensive  deposit  of 
magnetic  ore,  which  is  found  near  Rawlins,  is  used  in 
the  silver-reducing  furnaces  in  Utah  as  a  flux.  About 
thirty  tons  a  day  are  now  shipped  for  that  service. 
The  ore  in  its  natural  state  is  ground  at  Rawlins  and 
sold  as  a  mineral  paint. 

For  this  purpose  it  is  used  on  the  Union  Pacific 
Railroad  for  painting  its  cars  and  buildings,  and  has 
proved  preferable  to  any  other  mineral  paint.  During 
the  present  year  a  furnace  will  be  built  at  Evanston, 
the  value  of  the  iron-ores  and  coal,  for  the  manufac- 
ture of  iron  and  Bessemer  steel,  having  been  practically 
determined. 

On  the  line  of  the  Union  Pacific  Railroad,  near 
Green  River,  is  found  an  inexhaustible  quantity  of  oil- 
bearing  rock,  similar  in  appearance  to  the  shale  in 
Scotland,  from  which,  last  year,  were  obtained  over 
twenty-one  million  gallons  of  lubricating  and  burn^ 
ing  oil.  The  Green  River  shale  yields  an  average 
of  thirty  gallons  of  oil  to  the  ton  of  rock,  of  which 
9 


194  OIL-BEARING  ROCK. 

quantity  fourteen  gallons  are  lubricating  oil,  and  six- 
teen gallons  are  of  light  gravity  or  burning  oil. 

Repeated  tests  of  the  rock  have  been  made  by 
means  of  a  retort  built  for  the  purpose,  which  holds 
five  hundred  pounds  of  shale,  and  the  results  were 
singularly  uniform.  Ten  tons  of  the  shale  have  been 
treated  in  this  manner,  and  the  resultant  oils  have 
been  subjected  to  repeated  and  exhaustive  tests.  As 
a  lubricator,  which  is  the  chief  value  of  the  oil,  it  is 
equal  to  the  best  that  has  been  purchased  for  use  on 
the  Union  Pacific  Railroad  at  a  cost  of  thirty-three 
cents  per  gallon.  The  cost  of  producing  the  oils  from 
rock  does  not  exceed  fifteen  cents  per  gallon.  During 
the  year  1873  the  Union  Pacific  Railroad  Company 
paid  thirty-six  thousand  dollars  for  oils  used  on  their 
line  for  lubricating  and  burning.  The  same  quality 
and  quantity  of  oils  can  be  made  from  the  rock  for  fif- 
teen thousand  dollars. 

Oils  made  from  this  shale  can  be  manufactured  and 
sold  at  a  handsome  profit  for  the  supply  of  the  Pacific 
slope,  which  has  hitherto  obtained  all  its  kerosene  and 
lubricating  oils  from  Pennsylvania,  Ohio,  or  Virginia. 
During  1872  the  quantity  of  oil  sent  to  California  from 
New  York  or  Cleveland  by  ocean  and  by  rail  amounted 
to  one  million  five  hundred  thousand  gallons.  Lubri- 
cating oil  can  also  be  manufactured  from  Green  River 
shale,  and  delivered  with  fair  profit  at  Pittsburgh  for 


SODA   DEPOSITS.  IQ5 

a  less  price  than  it  now  brings  at  the  West  Virginia 
wells. 

There  would  therefore  be  a  market  for  the  lubri- 
cating oil  made  from  shale  throughout  the  United 
States.  The  transportation  of  it  over  the  Union 
Pacific  Railroad  would  add  largely  to  its  revenues, 
which  would  be  still  further  increased  by  the  develop- 
ment of  the  distillery  works  established  near  Green 
River  for  the  manufacture  of  the  oils. 

The  alkaline  character  of  the  soil  for  several  hun- 
dred miles  along  the  line  of  the  Union  Pacific  Railroad 
led  to  the  belief  that  deposits  of  soda  in  large  quanti- 
ties would  eventually  be  discovered.  Recently  two 
soda  lakes  have  been  found  about  fifty  miles  north  of 
the  line  of  the  railroad,  which  have  been  carefully 
examined  and  the  quality  of  the  soda  determined  by 
repeated  analyses. 

From  one  lake  the  water  evaporated  to  such  an 
extent  as  to  leave  a  deposit  of  soda  six  feet  in  depth 
along  its  shores.  This  soda  is  entirely  free  from  any 
earthy  admixture.  In  an  adjoining  lake,  which  is 
much  the  largest,  the  water  is  a  saturated  solution, 
one-tenth  of  its  weight  being  soda.  The  soda  has 
a  larger  percentage  of  carbonate  than  the  salsoda 
of  commerce,  and  is  therefore  worth  more  per 
pound. 

The  report  of  commercial  statistics  of  the  United 


196  SULPHUR  DEPOSITS. 

States,  made  to  Congress  by  the  Secretary  of  the 
Treasury  for  1872,  states  that  there  were  imported 
into  the  United  States,  during  that  year,  one  hun- 
dred and  eighteen  thousand  tons  of  soda,  of  the  value 
of  four  million  nine  hundred  and  forty-five  thousand 
seven  hundred  and  twenty  dollars,  and  that  there 
were  manufactured  in  this  country  soda  of  the  value 
only  of  two  hundred  thirty-one  thousand  six  hundred 
and  forty-seven  dollars,  showing  that  ninety-five  per 
cent,  of  all  the  soda  used  in  this  country  is  imported. 

Soda  from  the  line  of  the  Union  Pacific  Railroad  can 
be  delivered  at  the  Atlantic  ports  for  ten  dollars  less 
per  ton  than  the  present  selling  price,  while  for  the 
supply  of  the  interior  States  it  could  be  delivered  for 
from  ten  to  twenty  dollars  less  per  ton. 

The  transportation  over  the  Union  Pacific  Railroad 
of  the  soda  used  in  this  country  would  add  a  very 
large  sum  annually  to  the  earnings  of  the  Union  Pacific 
Railroad  Company. 

In  Utah  Territory,  at  a  point  about  thirty  miles 
south  of  the  railroad,  there  was  discovered  last  year  a 
large  deposit  of  sulphur. 

It  has  been  visited  by  several  persons,  who  agree  in 
the  statement  that  the  quantity  is  practically  inex- 
haustible. 

The  discoverer  of  this  deposit,  after  numerous  ana- 
lyses to  ascertain  its  quality,  went  to  Europe  and 


GENERAL  MINERAL  RESOURCES.  1 97 

visited  all  the  localities  from  which  the  sulphur  used 
in  this  country  is  obtained,  to  determine  whether  he 
could  successfully  compete  with  the  foreign  article. 
He  found  that  the  deposit  in  Utah  is  twenty  per  cent, 
purer  than  any  in  Europe  ;  and,  after  careful  investi- 
gation of  all  the  facts,  he  asserts  that  he  can  deliver 
sulphur  at  the  Atlantic  cities  to  exclude  all  sulphur  of 
importation.  If  this  statement  be  correct,  the  earn- 
ings from  the  transportation  of  sulphur  over  the  rail- 
road would  be  at  least  three  hundred  thousand  dollars 
per  annum. 

Such  as  I  have  enumerated  are  the  inexhaustible 
and  rapidly  developing  mineral  resources  not  only  of 
Utah,  but  of  the  approaches  to  it  along  the  line  of  the 
Union  Pacific  Railroad.  But  a  few  years  ago  they 
were  not  even  dreamed  of.  The  most  sanguine  ima- 
ginations did  not  entertain  the  remotest  idea  of  their 
value. 

The  active  promoter  of  this  road,  when,  in  the  face 
of  every  discouragement,  he  undertook  its  comple- 
tion, looked  chiefly  at  its  value  as  a  national  thorough- 
fare, and  was  totally  ignorant  of  the  mineral  products 
that  would  be  found  in  the  vicinity  of  almost  every 
station  along  its  line. 

The  country  will  remember,  if  history  is  read  aright, 
that  it  is  mainly  indebted  to  Oakes  Ames  for  its  Union 
Pacific  Railroad.  He  organized  the  Credit  Mobilier, 


198  OAKES  AMES. 

without  which  the  road  could  not  have  been  con- 
structed. He  undertook  the  enterprise  when  no  one 
else  dared  to  embark  in  a  scheme  fraught  with  so  many 
dangers  and  uncertainties.  He  was  a  plain  business 
man,  but  he  was  ambitious  withal.  His  ambition  was 
to  earn  the  credit  of  accomplishing  this  great  national 
work.  I  had  it  from  his  own  lips  that  he  would  have 
been  a  richer  man  if  he  had  never  undertaken  it. 

He  never  dreamed  of  doing  wrong  in  the  distribu- 
tion of  the  stock.  The  hands  of  Oakes  Ames  were 
never  soiled  by  any  dirty  lobby  transactions.  His 
great  object  was  to  build  a  railroad  that  has  united 
the  East  and  the  West  and  made  our  country  one  and 
indivisible.  To  effect  this  he  did  not  hesitate  to 
directly  approach  members  of  Congress  in  the  most 
approachable  way.  He  knew  that  "  where  the  treas- 
ure was  there  would  the  heart  be  also." 

He  finished  his  work,  and  now  lies  beneath  a  simple 
tombstone  in  the  churchyard  of  a  New  England  vil- 
lage ;  but  the  people  of  the  great  country  that  he  has 
strapped  together  with  his  iron  bars,  may  behold  his 
monument  at  every  point  of  their  journey  from  the 
Atlantic  to  the  Pacific. 


CHAPTER   XXII. 

Utah  Commercially. —  Traffic  in  the  Olden  Times. — Prominent  Mer- 
chants.— Zioii's  Co-operative  Mercantile  Institution. — Business 
tiniversally  profitable. — High  Rates  of  Interest. — Opportunities  for 
Investment. 

IN  the  olden  times,  before  railroads  or  even  daily 
mails  by  stage-coach  were  known  in  Utah, 
"merchandizing"  was  a  very  profitable  business. 
The  principal  merchants  were  Gentiles,  and  they 
made  money  rapidly.  Only  once  each  year  could 
their  stocks  of  goods  be  renewed.  Every  spring  they 
would  go  East  to  buy,  and  every  autumn  their  long 
trains  of  loaded  ox-wagons  would  reach  the  valley 
with  the  new  stock.  There  was  always  a  great  strife 
among  the  tradesmen  to  be  first  in  the  market. 

If  a  merchant  failed  to  have  his  goods  on  the 
shelves  by  "Conference" — the  first  week  in  Octo- 
ber— he  suffered  severely,  and  was  certain  to  be  be- 
hind in  his  affairs  the  whole  year.  The  "  Fall  Con- 
ference "  was  the  great  purchasing  season  for  all 
classes.  Then  such  of  the  necessaries  of  life  as  the 
soil  of  Utah  failed  to  produce  must  be  secured,  or  the 


200  "CONFERENCE  TIME." 

long  winter  must  pass  without  them.  The  snow  laid 
an  embargo  upon  anything  like  free  intercourse  be- 
tween remote  sections.  So  at  "  Conference  time  " 
thousands  of  families  flocked  into  the  chief  city,  to 
hear  words  of  practical  wisdom  from  their  leaders,  and 
to  exchange  their  agricultural  products  and  their  sav- 
ings for  the  contents  of  the  stores.  This  was  the  har- 
vest-time for  the  storekeepers.  Their  stocks  were 
considered  "  fresh,"  for  they  were  bought  in  April  or 
May,  and  had  been  but  three  or  four  months  on  the 
journey. 

The  question  with  the  tradesmen  was,  how  to 
deliver  the  goods  as  fast  as  they  were  called  for. 
Behind  the  counters  were  clerks  standing  close  as  an 
army  file,  working  with  might  and  main  for  twenty 
hours  out  of  each  twenty-four  to  supply  the  never- 
diminishing  crowd  which  surged  and  struggled  and 
fought  good-naturedly  for  the  foremost  place.  Men  and 
women,  when  tired  of  waiting,  or  hopeless  of  reaching 
the  counter,  would  wrap  their  money  in  a  paper,  and 
securing  the  momentary  attention  of  some  clerk,  would 
toss  the  precious  package  over  the  heads  "of  the  peo- 
ple, to  be  caught  by  the  attendant,  scream  out  the 
order  for  tea,  or  sugar,  or  "  domestics,"  and  catch 
the  bundle  deftly  when  it  came. 

Those  were  great  days  for  the  people  and  greater 
for  the  merchants.  Prices  were  enormous  and  the 


MERCHANTS  OF  UTAH.  2OI 

profits  were  great.  A  pound  of  nails,  costing  four 
cents  in  Massachusetts,  were  cheap  at  thirty  cents  in 
Salt  Lake  City,  as  late  as  1864.  The  freight  was  the 
principal  item.  Merchants  in  that  far-off  country 
must  pay  cash  for  their  goods.  It  would  have  been 
folly  to  solicit  credit  from  wholesale  dealers  in  the 
great  cities  on  goods  designed  for  the  heart  of  the 
wilderness  and  the  home  of  the  Indian. 

It  required  capital  to  do  business,  and  that  capital 
must  be  idle  for  the  months  elapsing  between  the 
time  of  purchase  and  the  date  of  sale.  Money  in 
those  days  would  bring  almost  any.  price  asked ; 
five  per  cent,  a  month  was  looked  upon  as  about 
fair  !  Of  course,  those  who  had  money  made  money 
very  rapidly,  in  whatever  way  they  employed  it. 
For  years  the  great  merchants  were  Livingston  & 
Bell,  Gilbert  &  Gerrish,  and  John  Kimball,  all  Gen- 
tiles. Their  gains  were  enormous.  Then  a  young 
firm,  composed  of  four  brothers,  the  Walkers,  went 
into  trade.  They  were  Mormons,  and  excellent  busi- 
ness men.  In  1862  they  quietly  opened  a  route 
through  Utah,  southward  to  the  Pacific  coast,  and 
thence  to  San  Francisco,  and  thus  brought  in  trains 
of  goods  in  the  dead  of  winter.  This  enterprise  gave 
them  a  great  trade,  and  placed  them  far  in  advance 
of  their  long-established  competitors. 

The  prominent  houses  soon  after  gave  up  business, 
9* 


202       CO-OPERATIVE   MERCANTILE  INSTITUTION. 

and  Walker  Brothers  held  the  trade.  Kimball  took 
in  young  Lawrence,  a  Mormon  ;  Jennings,  also  a 
Mormon,  who  had  been  engaged  in  tanning,  went 
into  "  merchandizing,"  and  was  successful.  Hooper 
&  Eldridge,  Mormons,  put  their  capital  together  and 
started  out  in  the  same  line.  Godbe,  another 
"  Saint,"  added  groceries  to  his  drug-store,  and  for  a 
time  the  trade  was  entirely  in  Mormon  hands. 

Then  a  co-operative  store  was  organized  at  the  in- 
stance of  Brigham  Young,  and  all  the  traders  were  in- 
vited to  consolidate  their  stocks  of  goods  in  this  enter- 
prise. Walker  Brothers  declined,  and  were  ultimately 
cut  off  from  the  church  for  this  and  other  rebellious 
acts.  Godbe  refused,  and  the  church  cut  him  off  also. 
Jennings  and  the  rest  reluctantly  fell  into  the  co-opera- 
tive ranks.  Kimball,  not  being  a  Mormon,  held  out 
till  he  died,  and  a  year  or  two  later,  Lawrence,  the 
surviving  partner,  though  scarcely  longer  affiliating 
with  the  church,  closed  out  the  business.  Walker  Bro- 
thers continued  in  trade — extended  their  great  stores, 
added  new  and  important  features,  made  their  es- 
tablishment the  most  metropolitan  in  character  and 
the  most  attractive  in  appearance  of  any  in  Utah,  and 
to-day  they  divide  the  business  of  the  Territory  with 
"Zion's  Co-operative  Mercantile  Institution." 

The  last-named  establishment  deserves  more  than  a 
passing  remark.  It  is  the  great  business  concern  of 


THE   ADVENT   OF   RAILROADS.  2O3 

the  West,  and  has  not  less  than  one  hundred  thousand 
regular  customers.  As  a  wholesale  house  it  supplies 
all  the  Mormon  stores  in  all  parts  of  Utah.  Its  retail 
stores  at  various  points  do  a  heavy  trade  with  saints 
and  sinners  alike.  Its  total  receipts  reach  about  six 
million  dollars  a  year.  Its  paid-up  capital  amounts  to 
nearly  one  million  dollars,  and  new  stock  is  always  for 
sale  at  one  hundred  dollars  per  share.  Its  dividends 
average  fully  twenty  per  cent,  per  annum,  besides  a 
large  and  constantly  increasing  reserve. 

Generally  its  management  has  been  good,  and  its 
credit  high.  The  great  New  York  house  of  H.  B. 
Claflin  &  Co.  ships  to  it  more  than  two  million  dollars 
worth  of  drygoods  annually,  and  Benedict,  Hall  &  Co. 
send  to  it  every  year  hundreds  of  thousands  in  boots 
and  shoes.  All  who  supply  the  "  Co-op,"  as  it  is  la- 
conically termed,  express  satisfaction  with  its  prompt- 
ness in  paying  its  debts. 

Of  course,  the  advent  of  railroads  has  greatly 
changed  the  currents  of  trade  in  Utah.  The  freight 
on  the  pound  of  nails  is  no  longer  twenty  cents,  but  is 
reduced  to  six  cents  ;  and  the  time  of  its  transit  from 
the  factory  to  its  place  of  consumption  has  fallen  from 
four  months  to  fifteen  days.  As  all  other  things  lessen, 
so  do  profits.  Money  drops  with  the  rest.  One  and 
a  half  per  cent,  per  month  is  still  considered  a  cheap 
rate  for  currency,  and  a  large  proportion  of  all  loans 


204  PROFITS   OF  BANKERS. 

bear  interest  at  the  rate  of  two  per  cent,  per  month, 
payable  in  advance. 

The  Legislature  has  had  the  good  sense  to  enact 
no  usury  laws,  which  are  a  dead  letter  everywhere, 
and  exist  only  to  be  evaded.  Money  earns  good 
wages  in  Utah,  and  borrowers  are  able  to  pay  large 
interest  and  still  realize  a  profit.  All  kind  of  business 
is  profitable.  The  merchants,  small  and  great,  make 
money,  without  an  exception.  Bankers  realize  splen- 
did profits.  The  First  National  Bank  of  Salt  Lake 
City,  with  a  capital  of  one  hundred  and  fifty  thou- 
sand dollars,  regularly  announces  an  annual  dividend 
of  fifty  per  cent.,  besides  constant  additions  to  its 
reserve. 

Its  banking-house  is  as  fine  as  anything  in  America, 
its  interior  being  as  elegant  as  marble,  and  gilding, 
and  mirrors,  and  carving,  and  frescoes  and  polished 
wood  can  make  it.  •  Railroads  are  constructed  and  run 
at  great  profit.  The  Utah  Central,  extending  from 
Ogden  to  Salt  Lake  City,  is  thirty-eight  miles  long, 
and  cost  about  one  million  two  hundred  and  fifty 
thousand  dollars.  Its  capital  stock  is  one  million 
five  hundred  thousand  dollars,  and  its  bonded  debt 
one  million  dollars.  It  promptly  pays  sixty  thou- 
sand dollars  a  year  in  gold  as  interest  on  its  bond- 
ed debt,  and  then  hands  over  to  its  stockholders 
one  hundred  and  eighty  thousand  dollars  in  cur- 


DIFFERENT  ENTERPRISES.  2O5 

rency,  being  twelve  per  cent,  on  the  par  value  of 
its  stock.  At  the  same  time  it  is  constantly  adding 
to  its  side-tracks,  its  lands  and  buildings,  and  its 
rolling-stock. 

It  is  as  good  a  railroad  as  any  in  the  country  of 
the  same  length,  and  probably  as  profitable.  Yet  its 
stock  and  bonds  are  hardly  known  in  the  East,  and 
can  be  bought  in  Salt  Lake  City  when  offered  for 
sale  at  about  sixty-five  or  seventy  per  cent,  of  their 
par  value.  This  railroad  enterprise  shows  what  can 
be  done  with  capital  thus  employed.  Its  builders  net 
twenty  per  cent,  per  annum  in  cash  on  the  invest- 
ment, and  their  property  is  annually  increased  in  value 
not  less  than  ten  per  cent. 

The  success  of  this  enterprise  finds  a  constant  par- 
allel in  such  other  branches  of  business  as  are  entered 
upon  with  adequate  capital.  Mills  for  the  conversion 
of  the  native  wool  into  cloth,  of  the  cereals  into  flour, 
of  timber  into  building-material,  all  pay  handsomely. 
The  mines  of  lead,  containing  silver,  have  proved  ex- 
ceptional in  magnitude,  although  affording  less  pre- 
cious metal  to  the  ton  than  the  ores  of  some  other 
mining  countries.  In  this  branch  of  industry  fortunes 
are  made  every  year  by  those  who  have  the  means  to 
follow  up  intelligently  the  indications  which  crop  out 
upon  the  surface  of  the  hills  and  are  half-buried  be- 
neath the  accumulations  and  upheavals  of  ages.  As 


2O6  RATES  OF  INTEREST. 

I  said  before,  everything  pays,  and  I  may  add  that 
money-lending  pays  about  as  well  as  anything  to 
those  who  have  money  to  lend. 

A  New  York  or  Boston  man  would  consider  him- 
self on  the  high  road  to  ruin  if  he  had  to  pay  two 
per  cent,  a  month  for  money.  He  could  not  pay 
that  rate  and  compete  with  his  neighbors  who  traded 
on  their  own  capital.  But  in  Utah  the  same  man 
would  turn  the  borrowed  capital  over,  and  realize  for 
himself  one  or  two  per  cent,  per  month  after  paying 
the  high  rate  of  interest.  If  a  business  man  of 
large  experience  and  extended  acquaintance  in  Utah 
could  borrow  one  million  dollars  in  New  York  or 
any  cheap  money  market,  at  ten  per  cent,  per  annum, 
for  use  in  Salt  Lake  City  and  vicinity,  he  could  lend 
it  there  on  first-class  security,  and  clear  for  himself 
ten  or  fifteen  per  cent,  yearly  on  the  whole  sum. 

I  made  the  acquaintance  of  a  Gentile  who  has 
established  relations  with  a  few  capitalists  in  Boston, 
New  York,  San  Francisco,  and  London.  He  loaned 
money  on  valuable  real-estate,  and  on  the  railroad 
securities,  at  the  rates  of  interest  which  I  have 
mentioned.  His  transactions  were  large,  and  he 
assured  me  that  he  had  never  lost  a  dollar  of 
principal  or  interest.  The  funds  loaned  by  him  be- 
longed chiefly  to  Gentiles,  non-residents,  while  the 
borrowers  were  generally  Mormons.  He  bore  the 


MONEY-LENDING.  2O/ 

most  unqualified  and  earnest  testimony  to  the 
honesty,  promptness,  and  good-faith  of  the  Mor- 
mons as  a  class  in  all  business  affairs.  He  con- 
sidered Utah  the  safest  and  best  place  for  business  on 
the  continent. 

He  admitted,  however,  that  he  found  it  difficult  to 
make  capitalists  comprehend  the  facts.  When  he 
asked  for  a  million  dollars,  they  timidly  sent  him  fifty 
or  a  hundred  thousand.  With  safe,  thrifty  applicants 
for  five  millions,  on  security  vastly  in  excess  of  that 
amount,  and  as  good  as  any  in  the  world,  he  was 
barely  able  to  accommodate  ten  per  cent,  of  those 
who  applied  for  loans  in  1873.  He  predicted  that  a 
high  rate  of  interest  would  continue  just  as  long  as 
every  enterprise  entered  upon  proved,  as  now,  a  source 
of  great  profit. 

With  large  competition,  all  this  would  change  ;  but 
the  almost  boundless  resources  of  the  Territory  must 
be  developed  before  competition  can  become  effect- 
ive in  this  direction.  A  thousand  miles  of  railroad 
would  be  demanded  and  would  be  paid  for,  in  three  or 
four  years  from  completion,  out  of  the  profits  of  the 
traffic.  The  mountains  of  iron  and  coal  must  be 
penetrated  and  utilized  to  meet  the  home  demand. 
The  hills  must  give  forth  their  precious  deposits  until 
their  annual  product  reaches  a  hundred  millions  in 
silver.  A  multitude  of  enterprises  await  the  magic 


208  FUTURE  RATES   OF  INTEREST. 

touch    of  capital,  and  would  employ  that  capital  at 
enormous  profit  in  the  future  as  in  the  past. 

In  view  of  all  this,  who  shall  say  that  money  will 
not  be  worth  two  per  cent,  per  month  in  Utah  for  a 
decade  or  two  to  come  ? 


CHAPTER  XXIII. 

Review. —  Table  of  Distances  and  Time. —  Gold  and  Paper  Money. — 
The  best  Disposal  of  Congress. — Hints  to  Travellers. — Comforts  of 
a  Railroad  Journey. — Saddles  and  Boots. 

IN  a  somewhat  desultory  manner  I  have  sketched  a 
few  of  the  scenes  in  the  Mormon  country  over 
which  I  have  rambled.  Some  of  the  characteristics 
of  the  people  have  been  portrayed ;  not  a  little  has 
been  said  about  their  religion,  and  as  much  as  was 
consistent  with  the  effort  to  make  a  small  book  has 
been  introduced  to  show  the  vast  agricultural,  mining, 
and  commercial  resources  of  the  Territory  and  its 
neighborhood. 

To  the  scenery  no  pen  but  that  of  an  artist  can  do 
adequate  justice.  The  reader  should  avail  himself  of 
that  wonderful  invention  which  performs  the  miracle 
of  removing  mountains  to  our  firesides,  and  after  he 
has  welcomed  them  there,  he  should  return  the  visit 
and  in  the  pure  atmosphere  not  susceptible  of  impor- 
tation by  photography,  behold  the  towering  mountains 
from  their  base  and  the  lovely  valleys  from  peaks 
above  them. 


210  TABLE  OF  DISTANCES. 

If  in  search  of  health,  he  should  not  neglect  the 
wonderful  Soda  Springs  where  his  ailments  will  disap- 
pear if  he  does  not  forget  them  before  his  arrival.  I 
cannot  too  strongly  impress  upon  men  of  weak 
stomachs  and  weak  lungs  the  salubrity  of  the  climate  ; 
and,  if  invalids  of  the  gentler  sex  can  be  induced  to 
"  rough  it "  for  one  summer  in  the  wilds  of  Utah  and 
of  Idaho,  let  them  be  assured  that  they  can  better 
stand  the  winter's  campaign.  Their  step  in  the  ball- 
room will  be  more  elastic,  their  lungs  can  better  with- 
stand the  close  air  of  the  theatre,  and  the  poisonous 
combinations  of  lobster-salad  and  ice-cream  in  which 
some  of  them  nightly  indulge  will  have  had  a  partial 
antidote. 

Some  reference  has  been  made  to  the  route  from 
New  York  to  Soda  Springs.  This  little  table  of  dis- 
tances and  time  may  still  be  of  service  : 

N.  Y.  to  -Buffalo  by  N.  Y.  Central  R.R.     44O  miles. 

Buffalo  to  Chicago  by  Lake  Shore  R.R.  .      539  " 
Chicago  to  Omaha  by  Chicago  &  N.  W. 

R.R 490  " 

Omaha  to  Ogden  by  Union  Pacific  R.R.    1029  " 
Ogden  to  Salt  Lake  City  by  Utah  Central 

R.R 38  " 

Distance  from  New  York  to  Salt  Lake. .   2536  " 

The  time  occupied,  if  the  connections  are  made,  is 
four  days  twenty  hours  fifteen  minutes,  from  New 
York  to  Ogden.  If  the  journey  is  then  continued  to 


RAILROAD   FARES — CURRENCY.  211 

San  Francisco  by  the  Central  Pacific  Railroad,  there 
is  a  further  distance  of  eight  hundred  and  seventy- 
eight  miles  to  be  accomplished  in  two  days  two  hours 
and  twenty  minutes.  Thus  the  whole  distance  from 
New  York  to  San  Francisco  is  three  thousand  four 
hundred  and  fourteen  miles,  and  the  whole  time  oc- 
cupied, six  days  twenty-two  hours  and  thirty-five 
minutes.  As  the  time-tables  are  not  more  exact,  I 
cannot  give  the  odd  seconds. 

The  fare  is,  from  New  York  to  San  Francisco, 
$ *  39-  5°  currency  ;  New  York  to  Ogden,  $117  currency, 
and  on  the  branch  road  from  Ogden  to  Salt  Lake 
City,  $2. 

It  may  be  remembered  that  as  Utah  is  on  a  line  of 
"distinct  civilization"  in  religion,  so  it  is  also  in 
currency.  Unfortunately  paper-money  is  the  currency 
of  the  Saints.  They  have  a  holy  horror  of  it,  too. 

While  they  admit  that  it  gives  an  enhanced  value  to 
their  products,  they  regret  that  it  gives  it  also  to  what 
they  are  obliged  to  purchase.  The  business  men 
generally  concede  that  their  condition  would  have 
been  greatly  improved  if  the  gold  currency,  which 
ceases  to  be  a  medium  of  circulation  on  reaching  their 
Western  border,  extended  throughout  their  Territory. 

If  Congress  would  appropriate  money  enough  to 
transport  all  its  members  over  the  Union  Pacific  and 
Central  Pacific  roads  to  California,  that  they  might  see 


212  SLOW   OR   RAPID   TRANSIT. 

how  a  steady  currency  redounds  to  the  prosperity  of 
that  section,  the  Treasury  could  well  afford  the  outlay. 
No  appropriation  is  advocated  for  bringing  them 
back. 

I  have  outlined  the  routes,  and  the  time  in  which 
the  journey  can  be  accomplished,  if  necessary.  Most 
people  would  prefer  to  loiter  by  the  way.  They  can 
do  this  with  their  through  tickets,  if  they  are  inclined 
to  stop  at  any  or  all  of  the  stations  on  the  road. 

Still,  if  one  wishes  to  rush  through,  he  need  not  be 
deterred  by  a  fear  of  fatigue.  Railroad  travelling  is 
an  anomaly.  You  become  rested  by  being  tired. 
Nine  hours  from  New  York*  to  Boston,  or  Washington, 
is  a  very  irksome  journey.  To  one  who  has  been 
obliged  to  take  it,  its  frequency  does  not  overcome 
its  dread. 

The  same  sort  of  feeling  is  experienced  for  the  first 
day  of  a  journey  to  the  West.  Afterwards  you  become 
accustomed  to  it,  and  soon  the  splendid  and  com- 
fortable Pullman  car  comes  to  be  regarded  as  a  home. 
You  feel  no  further  fatigue  during  the  journey. 

You  are  obliged  to  keep  regular  hours,  retiring  and 
rising  when  other  people  do.  That  is  better  for 
you  than  late  and  uncertain  hours  in  New  York. 
You  are  generally  well  entertained  at  the  restaurants. 
These  are  not  of  the  best,  but  every  year  they  are 
improving.  If  you  are  a  teetotaller,  you  do  not  need 


AMUSEMENTS  ON  THE   ROAD.  213 

the  advice  which  is  worthy  the  attention  of  those  who, 
if  they  are  of  opposite  principles,  may  thank  me  for  it. 

It  is,  to  be  provided  with  your  own  wine  and  spirits. 
Everything  of  this  kind  on  the  road  is  abominable — 
more  so  even  than  the  sloppy  tea  and  weak  imitations 
of  coffee  at  the  temperance  restaurants. 

You  cannot  fail  to  make  pleasant  acquaintances  in 
your  constantly,  moving  house.  The  practice  of  whist 
and  euchre  will  make  you  perfect  in  these  games. 
But  never  dare  to  play  with  a  stranger  in  the  filthy 
smoking-car.  Beware  of  the  "  Three  Card  Monte" 
man  !  You  will  be  all  the  better  for  ignorance  of  this 
pretty  little  amusement. 

Yes,  indeed,  you  may  pass  away  your  time  most 
agreeably  on  the  road  ;  for,  of  course,  you  will  have 
a  portable  library,  and  the  guide-books  will  occupy 
much  of  your  mental  digestion. 

The  rate  of  speed  not  being  very  great,  reading  is 
easy,  especially  on  the  Union  Pacific,  where  the  line 
runs  for  hundreds  of  miles  over  a  level  prairie,  and, 
whether  owing  to  this  cause  or  to  its  solid  construc- 
tion I  know  not,  it  is  one  of  the  smoothest  roads 
that  I  ever  travelled  upon  in  any  part  of  the  world. 

Thus  much  for  the  railroad  journey.  But  when 
once  in  Utah  or  in  any  part  of  the  West  that  you  have 
time  to  explore,  go  where  the  railroad  has  not  yet 
penetrated.  Alas  for  the  lover  of  nature,  he  will  find 


214  RIDING  AND  WALKING. 

that  iron  monster  chasing  him  everywhere  !  Its  march 
is  onward,  over  and  under  mountains,  crossing  mighty 
rivers,  winding  through  the  loveliest  valleys,  the  mad 
devil  on  its  track  waking  the  dreamy  solitudes  of  the 
wilderness  from  the  repose  of  ages  into  the  activity  of 
business  life. 

Then,  before  this  terrible  railroad  is  omnipresent — 
before  saddles  and  even  walking-boots-  become  things 
of  the  past — ride  and  tramp  !  for  that  is  the  way  to  see 
that  best  part  of  the  world  which  nature  still  claims 
for  her  own. 


CHAPTER   XXIV. 

The  G'ood  accomplished  by  Mormonism.  —  Gentile  and  Mormon  Petitions 
to  Congress. — Letter  from  Hon.  Geo.  Q.  Cannon. — Justice  to  the 
Mormons. — Conclusion. 

IN  my  wanderings  among  the  Mormon   people  I 
may  have  been  too  much  attracted  by  the  poetry 
of  their  primitive  and  pastoral  life,  and  too  grateful  for 
their  hospitality,  to  criticise  them  severely. 

Why  should  I  ?  I  don't  believe  in  their  revelations  ; 
and  God  forbid  that  I  should  be  understood  as  at- 
tempting to  justify  polygamy.  Mormonism  is  not  my 
religion,  nor  polygamy  my  practice.  But  for  all  that, 
if  I  knew  that  the  press,  supposing  it  to  notice  this 
little  book,  would  abuse  me  unmercifully,  and  if  the 
"  forty-thousand  parson-power"  of  all  the  pulpits 
should  come  down  with  its  anathemas,  I  will  say 
this  :  in  all  my  voyages  and  travels  about  the  world, 
I  never  before  passed  three  months  in  a  community 
more  industrious,  upright,  honest  in  dealing  among 
themselves  and  with  others,  quiet,  inoffensive,  loyal 
to  government,  temperate,  virtuous,  and  religious, 
than  these  Mormons. 


2l6  THE   GENTILES. 

With  all  its  impositions  and  absurdities,  a  religion 
that  will  produce  results  like  these  must  have  in  it  of 
good, — something.  Yes,  a  great  deal  ! 

Lest  injustice  should  be  done  to  the  Gentile  popula- 
tion of  the  Territory,  let  me  explain,  if  I  have  not 
already  done  so  by  implication,  that  this  small  outside 
element  does  not  fairly  represent  Eastern  civilization. 

Most  of  the  non-Mormons  whom  I  have  styled 
Gentiles  in  accordance  with  the  general  acceptation 
of  the  term,  are  those  who  come  for  temporary  pur- 
poses of  trading,  mining,  and  other  speculations. 
The  greater  part  of  them  are  without  families,  and 
frequently  they  are  from  the  lowest  walks  of  life. 

In  his  tales  of  Mining  Camps,  Bret  Harte  has  aptly 
described  this  class.  He  can  scarcely  be  said  to  have 
exaggerated.  I  found  there  just  such  men. 

In  the  City  of  Salt  Lake  the  Gentile  population  is 
different.  There  are  two  classes  of  them.  One  is  of 
ladies  and  gentlemen  fitted  to  adorn  society  any- 
where, families  who  chiefly  from  considerations  of  per- 
manent business  take  up  their  residence  in  the  Terri- 
tory. There  is  another  set  of  Gentiles  in  the  same 
town  who  would  like  to  introduce  gambling-houses, 
drinking-saloons,  and  brothels,  to  civilize  the  Mormons. 

The  respectable  people  first  mentioned  rarely  have 
any  difficulty  with  the  dominant  sect.  Although 
they  are  more  or  less  exclusive,  they  frequently  meet 


UTAH  "  BEARS"  AND  POLITICIANS.  2i; 

the  Mormon  ladies  and  gentlemen  in  society — as  do 
likewise  the  officers  of  Camp  Douglas  and  their  wives. 

It  may  be  said  with  truth  that  if  the  Gentile 
inhabitants  of  Utah  were  all  such  as  these,  there 
would  be  scarcely  a  word  of  complaint  against  the 
Mormons,  and  no  petitions  to  Congress  for  relief  from 
the  tyranny  of  the  Church. 

These  petitions  come  mostly  from  recusant  disci- 
ples, people  of  no  especial  standing  in  the  commu- 
nity, and  small  politicians. 

That  some  very  worthy  men  are  induced  to  sign 
them  is  undoubtedly  true,  but  the  proportion  is  very 
small.  Every  year  the  petitions  accumulate  at 
Washington,  and  serve  the  turn  of  some  virtuous 
statesman  in  framing  a  bill  of  extermination. 

At  present,  another  strong  effort  is  being  made  to 
induce  Congress  to  legislate  so  that  the  individual  in- 
terests of  these  malcontents  may  be  benefited.  Their 
shafts  are  generally  aimed  at  the  target  of  poly- 
gamy, about  which  most  of  the  petitioners  do  not  care 
a  straw. 

A  great  many  of  them  would  like  to  see  real-estate 
and  other  securities  depressed.  There  are  "bears" 
in  Salt  Lake  as  well  as  in  Wall  street.  There  are 
politicians  there  as  well  as  in  Washington.  These 
would  like  to  wrest  political  power  from  the  Mormons 
to  appropriate  it  to  themselves. 


2l8  NON-MORMON  MEMORIAL. 

At  my  request  Hon.  Geo.  Q.  Cannon,  the  Utah 
delegate  to  Congress,  has  forwarded  me  their  last 
memorial,  with  a  counter-memorial  from  the  legisla- 
ture. 

The  first  commences  as  follows  : 

NON-MORMON   CITIZENS   OF   UTAH. 

"  Memorial  of  a  Committee  of  forty-five  gentlemen, 
selected  at  a  Public  meeting  of  non-Mormon  residents 
and  voters  of  Salt  Lake  City,  in  the  Territory  of  Utah, 
held  on  the  iQth  of  January,  1874,  to  prepare  a  memo- 
rial to  Congress,  setting  forth  the  grievances  of  the  non- 
Mormon  people  of  said  Territory,  and  for  such  legis- 
lation by  Congress  as  is  needed  for  the  full  protection 
of  all  classes  of  people  residing  in  said  Territory. 
February  9,  1874. — Referred  to  the  Committee  on  the 
Territories  and  ordered  to  be  printed. 

"  To  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  in  Con- 
gress assembled : — We,  the  undersigned  committee, 
selected  at  a  public  meeting  of  the  non-Mormon  voters 
of  Salt  Lake  City,  held  on  the  iQth  of  January,  1874, 
in  pursuance  of  the  following  resolution  passed  at  said 
meeting,  to  wit — 

"  Resolved,  That  the  committee  of  forty-five  appoint- 
ed by  this  meeting  are  hereby  instructed  to  prepare, 
at  their  earliest  convenience,  a  memorial  to  Congress, 
setting  forth  the  grievances  of  the  non-Mormons  of 
Utah,  and  requesting  such  legislation  by  Congress  as 
is  needed  for  the  full  protection  of  all  classes  of  people 
residing  in  this  Territory — 
"  Respectfully  represent : 

"  That  the  political  status  of  the  Territory  of  Utah  is 
anomalous  in  this,  that  five-sixths  or  more  of  the 
entire  population  are  members  of  an  organization,  the 
adherents  of  which  claim  that  it  is  religious  in  its  char- 


MEMORIAL.  219 

acter,  while  in  fact  it  enjoins,  both  as  to   faith  and 
practice,  the  commission  of  the  highest  crimes. 

"  Polygamy  is  openly  and  defiantly  practised  in  the 
face  of  the  law  of  Congress,  and  the  doctrine  of  the 
shedding  of  blood  for  the  remission  of  sins  has  been 
preached  from  the  Mormon  pulpit,  and  deliberately 
published  in  the  official  organs  of  the  church.  See 
the  following  discourse  of  Brigham  Young,  delivered 
in  the  Tabernacle  and  published  in  the  "Journal  of 
Discourses,"  vol.  L,  p.  82,  which  book  is  in  the  Public 
Library  at  the  Capitol." 

It  is  chiefly  filled  with  quotations  from  Brigham 
Young's  sermons  on  "  blood  atonement,"  none  of 
them  of  a  later  date  than  1856,  since  which  time  it  is 
well  known  that  the  doctrine  has  not  been  publicly 
advocated. 

It  closes  in  this  way  : 

"  Thus,  by  an  abuse  and  perversion  of  the  powers 
granted  in  the  organic  act,  a  theocracy  most  despotic 
in  its  character  has  been  kept  in  actual  operation  for 
twenty  years,  and  will  continue  for  many  more,  un- 
less Congress  shall  sooner  enact  such  laws  as  will 
place  it  beyond  the  power  of  the  Mormon  Church  to 
call  to  its  aid  the  forms  of  law  in  the  administration 
of  its  government. 

*'  As  long  as  Brigham  Young,  as  the  head  of  the 
church,  is  permitted  to  retain  his  power,  to  execute 
or  defeat  the  execution  of  the  laws  according  to  his 
will,  his  misguided  and  credulous  adherents  will  con- 
tinue to  implicitly  obey  and  believe  him,  and  that  his 
mission  is  divine  and  his  authority  paramount  to  and 
beyond  the  reach  of  human  laws.  But,  once  take 
away  from  him  the  form  of  law  under  which  he  has 
so  cunningly  acquired  and  exercised  theocratic  rule, 


220  MEMORIAL  OF  THE  LEGISLATURE. 

and  then  the  mission  of  the  Mormon  Church,  as  a 
governing  power  in  municipal  affairs,  will,  as  it 
should,  soon  come  to  an  end. 

"  Therefore,  the  affairs  of  this  Territory  being  ano- 
malous, we  respectfully  submit  that  special  legislation 
is  right  and  proper,  and  ask  your  honorable  body  to 
pass  at  an  early  day  such  legislation  as  will  remedy 
the  existing  evils  ;  and  we  give  it  as  our  opinion  that 
the  bills  introduced  by  Senators  Logan  and  Freling- 
huysen  would  either  of  them  effectually  accomplish 
that  end." — JOSEPH  R.  WALKER  AND  OTHERS. 

The  counter-memorial  is  as  follows  : 

MEMORIAL  OF  THE  LEGISLATIVE  ASSEMBLY  OF  UTAH, 

Asking  for  a  commission  of  investigation  to  be  sent 
to  Utah  to  inquire  into  all  alleged  abuses  in  affairs 
there.  February  16,  1874. — Referred  to  the  Com- 
mittee on  the  Judiciary  and  ordered  to  be  printed. 

To  the  honorable  the  Senate  and  House  of  Re- 
presentatives of  the  United  States  in  Congress  as- 
sembled.— GENTLEMEN  :  We,  your  memorialists,  the 
legislative  assembly  of  the  Territory  of  Utah,  respect- 
fully represent  that  whereas  a  large  majority  of  the 
people  of  this  Territory  are  accused  of  disloyalty, 
insubordination,  and  other  violations  of  the  Constitu- 
tion and  laws  of  the  United  States ;  and  whereas 
these  accusations  are  absolutely  untrue,  and  are  majde 
with  malicious  intent  to  procure  proscriptive  legisla- 
tion by  Congress :  Therefore,  being  anxious  that 
legislation,  if  upon  thorough  investigation  any  should 
be  deemed  necessary,  should  be  such  as  will  con- 
duce to  the  greatest  good  of  all,  we  respectfully  and 
earnestly  solicit  your  honorable  body  to  send  to  Utah 
a  commission  of  investigation,  with  instructions  to 
inquire  into  ah1  alleged  abuses  in  our  territorial  affairs, 
and  with  authority  to  send  for  persons  and  papers 


LETTER   OF   HON.    GEORGE   Q.    CANNON.         221 

needed  in  the  prosecution  of  their  inquiries.  And 
we  further  respectfully  ask  your  honorable  body,  for 
the  protection  of  what  we  deem  the  best  interests  of 
the  whole  people  of  the  Territory,  to  suspend  all 
action,  so  far  as  special  legislation  for  Utah  is  con- 
cerned, until  such  time  as  said  commission  shall  have 
had  opportunity  to  investigate  and  report ;  and  for  a 
course  so  conducive  to  wise  and  consequently  bene- 
ficial legislative  action,  we,  your  memorialists,  will 
ever  pray.  LORENZO  SNOW, 

President  of  the    Council , 
and  the  other  members  of  the  Legislature. 


With  the  documents  I  received  the  following  note  : 

DEAR  SIR  :  I  send  you  herewith  the  memorials  sent 
down  from  Utah,  also  an  argument  by  Hon.  Thos. 
Fitch  made  last  year.  From  these  you  may  get 
some  ideas  and  save  me  from  dwelling  at  length  on  the 
features  of  the  recent  memorial.  You  will  perceive 
that  they  (the  memorialists)  complain  of  the  murders 
which  have  been  committed  and  the  murderers  un- 
punished, and  yet  they  say  the  Courts  have  had  full 
power  to  try  such  cases,  but  have  not  exerted  it.  If 
there  are  murderers  at  large  the  Mormons  are  not  to 
blame.  The  Probate  Courts  have  punished  crime 
whenever  evidence  has  warranted,  whether  its  perpe- 
trators have  been  Mormons  or  non-Mormons. 

In  many  instances,  as  if  to  thwart  the  Probate 
Courts,  the  Judges  of  District  Courts,  particularly 
Judge  McKean,  have  released  criminals  on  writs  of 
habeas  corpus.  As  far  as  the  murder  of  Dr.  Robinson 
is  concerned,  every  effort  has  been  made  to  fasten  that 
upon  the  Mormons,  a  man  going  so  far  as  to  perjure 
himself  (as  he  afterwards  swore)  to  implicate  certain 
reputable  citizens  of  Salt  Lake  City.  This  man's 
name  was  Baker.  But  though  ex-Gov.  Weller,  of 


222  CONFLICT   OF  THE   COURTS. 

Cal.,  spent  a  considerable  time  after  that  murder  in  in- 
vestigating it,  no  clue  could  be  obtained  that  led  to 
the  implication  of  any  Mormon  ;  and  it  was  charged, 
at  that  time,  in  the  public  prints  of  Salt  Lake  City, 
that  when  Weller  found  that  the  investigation  was 
likely  to  lead  away  from  the  Mormons  and  to  fasten 
the  crime  elsewhere,  he  closed  it. 

As  for  the  Mountain  Meadows  affair,  ex-Gov. 
Young  did  proffer  to  go  with  the  Judges  to  the  South 
and  promote  by  his  influence  the  full  investigation  of 
that  slaughter.  It  would  have  been  too  good  an  evi- 
dence in  favor  of  Mormon  disposition  to  do  right  to 
be  accepted,  and  would  have  spoiled  an  excellent  tale 
of  Mormon  atrocities.  So  it  has  stood.  But  I  need 
not  go  through  with  all  these  charges.  I  am  confident 
that  in  no  Territory  of  the  United  States  have  there 
been  so  few  murders  unpunished,  or  where  life  and 
property  have  been  so  safe,  as  in  Utah.  That  the 
people  are  patient  and  forbearing,  is  evidenced  by  the 
fact  that  such  men  as  those  who  have  for  years  per- 
sistently and  malignantly  slandered  them,  are  per- 
mitted to  walk  undisturbed  in  the  Territory. 

While  I  may  not  agree  with  many  of  your  views 
and  deductions,  I  think  your  book,  as  the  result  of 
personal  observation,  in  so  far  as  I  understand  its 
spirit,  cannot  fail  to  do  good.  Differences  of  opinion, 
honestly  entertained  and  frankly  stated,  should  always 
be  tolerated  and  respected.  No  one  ought  to  fear  them. 
With  kind  regards,  I  am, 

Respectfully, 

GEO.  Q.  CANNON. 

Whatever  grounds  the  non-Mormons  may  have  for 
complaint,  it  cannot  but  seem  reasonable  to  any  un- 
prejudiced mind  that  the  investigation  asked  for  by 
the  Legislature,  should  be  had  before  any  decided 


MAJORITIES   AND   MINORITIES.  223 

steps  are  taken  by  Congress,  especially  if  the  Consti- 
tution has  to  be  invaded  to  meet  the  supposed  exigen- 
cy of  the  case. 

If,  as  the  non-Mormons  say,  a  majority  of  six  to 
one  make  oppressive  laws  to  operate  against  the 
small  minority,  it  would  seem  still  more  unjust  if  Con- 
gress should  put  a  law-making  and  law-enforcing  pow- 
er into  the  hands  of  this  small  minority,  to  be  exer- 
cised against  the  great  majority  ! 

I  have  heard  the  majority  computed  to  be  much 
larger  than  these  gentlemen  estimate  it.  It  is  supposed 
to  be  nine  to  one.  They  probably  refer  to  the  popula- 
tion of  Salt  Lake  City. 

It  would  come  to  this  :  that  one-tenth  of  the  popu- 
lation of  the  Territory,  and  that  by  no  means  the  most 
reputable,  composed  of  men  who  have  for  the  most 
part  taken  up  a  temporary  residence  there,  are  to  hold 
in  subjection  the  lives  and  property  of  the  other  nine- 
tenths  of  the  men  whose  Jathers  and  many  of  them- 
selves took  possession  of  this  waste  land  when  it  was 
Mexican  territory,  and  with  hardship,  toil,  and  priva- 
tion reclaimed  it  from  a  desert  waste,  developed  its 
resources,  and  made  it  such  a  rich  addition  to  the 
Union. 

We  should  not  attempt  to  excuse  ourselves  for  this 
gross  injustice  by  the  plea  that  courts  and  juries  of 
Mormons  do  not  punish  for  polygamy,  a  crime  we 


224  JUSTICE  TO  THE   MORMONS. 

hold  in  abhorrence.  While  our  courts  at  home  do 
punish  bigamists,  let  us  acknowledge  that  they  do 
not  adequately  deal  with  gambling,  drunkenness,  and 
prostitution  ;  crimes  which  the  Mormons  hold  in  ab- 
horrence, for  they  never  fail  to  take  cognizance  of 
them. 

Remembering  that  we  are  not  immaculate  ourselves, 
reflecting  that  if  we  were  to  undertake  summarily  to 
punish  criminal  immorality  at  home,  we  should  stir 
up  riot  and  murder  in  our  streets — let  us  consider  well 
before  taking  violent  and  unconstitutional  measures 
against  the  Mormons  which  would  surely  antagonize  a 
people  now  thoroughly  loyal  to  Government,  would 
check  enterprise,  reduce  the  value  of  property,  and  in 
no  sense  whatever  could  be  productive  of  good. 

By  the  treaty  with  Mexico,  when  the  Territory  em- 
bracing Utah  was  ceded  to  this  country,  it  was  stipu- 
lated that  as  soon  as  a  portion  of  it  contained  the  re- 
quisite number  of  inhabitants,  States  should  be  formed 
and  admitted  to  the  Union. 

This  compact  has  been  carried  out  with  other  com- 
munities of  much  smaller  populations  than  Utah  pos- 
sesses. We  are  keeping  her  out  in  the  cold  until  po- 
lygamy is  discarded,  notwithstanding  her  persistent 
knocking  at  our  doors.  That  is  punishment  enough. 
Utah  cannot  stand  there  long  with  this  heavy  burden 
on  her  shoulders,  while  all  her  neighboring  sisters  are 


THE  PROOFS   OF  IMPARTIALITY.  225 

welcomed  into  our  family.  The  religion  of  these  Lat- 
ter-Day Saints  is  a  very  heavenly  one  in  theory,  but  a 
very  worldly  one  in  practice.  They  well  know  the  ad- 
vantages of  State  organization.  Their  desire  to  obtain 
it  will  speedily  cause  them  to  abandon  their  cherished 
institution.  This  inducement,  united  with  other  influ- 
ences already  mentioned,  will  give  a  death-blow  to 
polygamy,  without  the  intervention  of  Congress. 
Caustic  is  not  the  remedy  for  this  sore. 

In  closing,  I  may  venture  to  express  the  hope  that 
some  little  instruction  as  well  as  amusement  may  have 
been  derived  from  a  perusal  of  these  pages.  My 
Mormon  friends  will  say  that  their  kindness  is  ill-re- 
quited by  adverse  criticism  of  their  doctrines  and 
practices.  My  Gentile  readers  will  say  that  I  have 
been  so  fascinated  with  the  country  and  the  people  of 
Utah  that  I  have  given  them  unmerited  praise.  Both 
verdicts  will  be  gratefully  accepted  as  proofs  of  the 
impartiality  claimed  for  the  book. 


FINIS. 


10' 


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